Finding the One
by CallistaStar
Summary: Callie (OC) never thought that the man of her dreams would actually enter her world but before she knew it, she found Yusei, lying unconscious on her front yard. Will she change the 5D's timeline and have her happily ever after or will she let Yusei slip away? My main story behind Callie and Yusei. Side stories include Dreaming of Him and Comfort in His Arms.


**Finding the One**

 **Chapter 1**

"So, Callie, are you feeling better?" asked Natalie, who was sitting on the couch while munching on popcorn and watching TV.

I nodded and simply sat beside her without saying a word. Yes, that's me, Callie. I'm 22 years old and have wavy brunette hair that falls just below my shoulders. I'm on the short side in stature although my other features, such as my brown eyes and favorable facial features, make up for it. Next to me is my best friend Natalie who looks a lot like me although her hair is shorter and has a lighter brown color than mine. We've been best friends since we were children, growing up together, sharing in our happy times and in our saddest moments. I'm a writer and I've had a couple of books published so I'm pretty well off financially while Natalie is a nurse at the city hospital. As well as being best friends, Natalie and I are housemates and we live in a medium sized house with four bedrooms and the standard living room, kitchen, and other such rooms. In other words, we live in a pretty well off suburban-type house near the city.

So you might be wondering why Natalie asked about me before. The short story is that I had gotten off the phone with my mother and we argued again. It was always the same thing. She had bothered me yet again about getting married or at least finding a boyfriend. Arguing with her frustrated me as well as exhausted me. I would have thought that having a successful career would be enough although my mother doesn't like that I chose to be a writer, to have a creative career, rather than go into research or medicine like my dad. I am pretty intelligent and have an IQ level that's almost genius level but I'd rather have fun with my life than take everything so seriously. However, that's a story for another time.

Natalie and I were sitting on the couch and there was a bowl of popcorn between us. It was almost time for our favorite anime, Yu-Gi-Oh 5D's. While we waited for another episode to come on, Natalie turned to me and said,

"I know I've said it before but you shouldn't let her get to you like this. It's not healthy."

I sighed and replied, "I know and I try not to but she always finds a way to push my buttons and I'm so sick and tired of it. I should just not speak to her for a long time. Maybe then she'll finally take the hint. Besides, it's not like she has any right to lecture me about guys. She didn't marry my dad for romance and all that. If I find the right guy, I know that in my heart he's the one. I'll feel it inside."

I looked to the TV and saw that Yu-Gi-Oh 5D's had finally come on. There was my favorite guy, Yusei Fudo, riding on his D-wheel, looking as brave, determined, and courageous as ever. Then I continued, "Anyway, none of the guys I've ever met have compared to Yusei. He's wonderful. Now that's the kind of guy I'd want to be with."

Natalie was watching TV with me when she laughed quietly after hearing my latter comment. She then replied, "Aww, I know Yusei is cool to a lot of girls but come on. No guy in real life is like him. You're looking for perfection and it doesn't exist. Now if you were looking for a guy like Jack," she pointed her right index finger to the television to the blond guy riding a white-colored D-wheel next to Yusei's, "then it might be possible to find one."

I rolled my eyes and replied, "Whatever. You're just saying that because you have a crush on Jack."

Natalie gave a slight pout and then turned her attention back to the TV without commenting further.

We were watching an episode after the saga of the dark signers had ended and it was then that I noticed something strange. I saw Yusei and Jack being chased by what looked to be more dark signers but this confused me since I know the whole plot behind the anime and the dark signers didn't make an appearance after the defeat of Goodwin. I turned to Natalie and said, "This isn't supposed to happen. I don't remember this at all."

Natalie looked confused, shrugged, and replied, "Maybe the writers decided to change the story a little?"

I raised an eyebrow and was about to respond when suddenly, there was a flash of white light coming from the TV. At the same time, there was a flash of light coming from what looked to be right outside the house. As it was nighttime and the neighborhood was usually pretty dark and quiet at this time, the light was out of place. Getting up, I said, "Let's check it out."

Natalie got up and nodded but stayed right behind me. I could sense that she was a little afraid of what was going on outside so I decided to check things out first. Slowly and quietly, I opened the front door and looked outside to see the cause of the light. I couldn't believe my eyes. All I could say was,

"There's no way…"

 **Chapter 2**

Standing in the doorway and looking out at the scene before me, I stood there, not knowing what else to say or to think. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Right there in the front yard were what looked to be two D-wheels, one red and one white. They looked awfully close to Yusei's and Jack's. However, not only did I see two D-wheels but I saw two guys unconscious on the front yard and they looked exactly like Yusei and Jack.

My mind was trying to take everything in when Natalie looked over my right shoulder to see what was going on. She noticed Yusei and Jack as well and before I knew it, she exclaimed,

"Oh my gosh! That's J-!"

I put my right hand over Natalie's mouth to indicate to her to quiet down and be calm. Then I replied, "I know it looks like them but we can't be sure that it is them. Besides, what if they were to wake up and hear you screaming?"

Natalie gave me a look and replied, "It has to be them. Like what are the chances that two completely random guys with duel runners land on our front yard and look exactly like Jack and Yusei from 5D's?"

I had to admit to myself that Natalie did have a point although there could have been other explanations. For now, though, there were more important matters to attend to, like making sure that the guys in our front yard were all right.

Sighing, I replied, "Let's figure this out later. First, we should check on them to see if they're injured."

Natalie nodded and the two of us walked to the front yard. I went to check on the guy that looked like Yusei while Natalie checked on the one that looked like Jack. They appeared to be out cold but fortunately only had minor injuries. As Natalie was a nurse, she checked the both of them briefly for any additional injuries and such and after a few minutes, she said,

"They look ok-just unconscious. We should take them inside where they can rest."

I nodded and carrying the Yusei look-a-like on my shoulders, I led the way back inside the house. Natalie followed my lead, doing the same to the Jack look-a-like. As we were carrying the guys up the stairs to the spare bedrooms, I noticed that Natalie was struggling a bit and so quietly asked, "You doing ok back there?"

Natalie replied, "I'm fine but he's a little heavier than I thought he'd be."

I suppressed the urge to giggle and just continued going up the stairs. Once we arrived on the second floor, I opened the door to one of the spare rooms and carried Yusei-for now, I'll call him Yusei since he does look a lot like him-inside. Carefully, I placed him on the bed and took off his helmet and boots. Then I covered him up with a blanket. Natalie did the same for Jack, putting him in the spare room next to Yusei's.

After the guys were settled, I went to see Natalie and said, "I'll go see to their D-wheels. I should put them in the garage for now so the neighbors don't see."

Natalie replied, "Ahh you mean their duel runners. Sure, I get it."

I'd forgotten to mention that I'm familiar with 5D's in both the original Japanese with subtitles as well as the English dubbed version. As Natalie has only watched the dubbed version, she calls them duel runners while I call them D-wheels.

So I went outside and it looked to be quiet in the neighborhood so it looked like things would be ok. Quietly, I opened the garage door and moved both D-wheels inside. Then I closed the garage door and secured it. Now it looked like how things were before the white flash of light landed.

After everything looked ok outside, I went back into the house and then locked the front door. Briefly going into the living room, I turned off the TV, figuring that neither Natalie nor I were going to be in the mood to watch TV after what happened. Then I went back upstairs and looked inside Jack's room where Natalie was attending to Jack, making sure that he was comfortable and all. Natalie saw me return and briefly leaving Jack's side, she approached me and asked,

"Is everything secure?"

I nodded and replied, "Yeah. The neighbors won't be able to tell that anything strange happened. The last thing we need is for anyone to poke around here when these guys need to rest."

Natalie replied, "That's for sure. I guess all we can do now is attend to them and wait for one of them to wake up."

I replied, "Yup. You should get back to looking after Jack and I'll look after Yusei."

Natalie gave me a slight smirk and replied, "Oh so now you admit that they are the same Jack and Yusei."

Quickly, I shook my head and replied, "No, that's not what I meant. It's just easier to call them by those names than add the 'look-a-like' part at the end."

Natalie smiled and replied, "Ok. We should get back to our patients. See you later then." She then returned to Jack's side and checked his forehead for any signs of fever or sickness in general.

I went back into Yusei's room and I observed that Yusei was still unconscious. Other than the fact that he was unconscious, he looked perfectly all right so I took a chair and placed it next to the bed, watching him. While I was doing so, thoughts kept racing through my head. I wondered what had happened, what had caused that white flash of light, and most importantly, whether the two guys that Natalie and I were now looking after were really Yusei and Jack. It seemed impossible that they could enter our world but yet here they were. However, I'd have to wait for one of them to wake up to find out for sure if they were the same guys.

As the hours of the night passed, my eyelids became heavy as I continued to watch Yusei. Before I knew it, I had fallen asleep, unaware that Natalie had fallen asleep as well while watching Jack.

 **Chapter 3**

The next morning arrived and I could tell by the sound of the sparrows chirping outside the bedroom window. Slowly, I opened my eyes and the first thing I saw were my feet. For a few moments, I had thought that perhaps the events of last night were a dream. That would certainly make a lot of sense, for I had no reasonable explanations over what happened. However, once I raised my head and looked over at the bed, I realized that last night's events weren't a dream. There was Yusei, sound asleep still. I gazed at him and couldn't help but smile. He looked so peaceful lying there in bed. Part of me did hope that the man in front of me was the same Yusei from 5D's although I had to be realistic and conclude that he probably wasn't, that it was more likely that he happened to look a lot like the same person.

I continued to gaze at him for several minutes and then I saw him move. He was waking up and quickly, I averted my eyes so that it didn't look like I had been staring at him for long. Once he was awake, I glanced at his eyes and they were the same midnight blue as Yusei's from 5D's. I loved that color, for I thought it was the most beautiful color ever. The man in front of me saw me after having gained consciousness and he looked confused. I couldn't blame him, though. I would have been confused if I had been in his position.

After a minute of silence, the quiet became awkward so I coughed a little and then asked, "How are you feeling? You were out of it for quite a while."

Yusei opened his mouth, ready to reply, when I heard Natalie scream,

"Oh noes! I'm so late! I can't be late today!"

Used to Natalie's panicked wake-up calls, I laughed quietly while Yusei looked a bit surprised. I turned to him and said, "That's Natalie. It sounds like she's freaking out about getting to work on time again. I'll go check on her but rest here, ok? I'll be back soon."

I gave Yusei a soft smile before leaving the room. Although I couldn't be sure, I doubted that he'd leave, as he would want answers on what happened.

In the hallway, I looked around for Natalie but decided to see if she were in Jack's room. So I peeked inside the room and saw Jack sitting up on the bed, looking annoyed. I thought to myself,

 _He sure does behave like Jack from 5D's but it might just be coincidence._

However, I saw no trace of Natalie. Seeing Jack awake, I said, "Hi. Good to see you awake. Have you seen Natalie?"

Jack turned his head towards my direction and noticing me for the first time, he replied sarcastically, "If you mean that girl who just ran out of here screaming that she's late without bothering to answer my questions, yeah. She ran out of here and to the left."

I nodded, realizing that Natalie had went to her room to get ready for work. I was about to leave Jack when he said, "Can _you_ tell me what's going on here? I want to know where I am, how I got here, and how much money you kidnappers want."

I fought the urge to laugh out loud, figuring that Jack would probably be more annoyed than he already was if I reacted like so. Instead, I took a breath and replied, "I'll answer all your questions. I can tell you one thing, though. You're not prisoners here. We found you. I'll be back soon. I should make sure that Natalie's ok."

I left Jack before he could reply and went to Natalie's room. Once I arrived, I saw her frantically changing clothes and getting her things ready. I looked at her with amusement in my eyes and said,

"I see that you're awake."

Natalie looked at me briefly and then went back to her routine, replying, "Yeah. I wouldn't have woken up at all had I not heard Jack's voice."

I replied, "That's how you woke up. Well, couldn't you call in sick today? These are special circumstances so you could do that."

Natalie replied, "I want to but I've called in sick before and I can't afford to do so again without possibly getting fired."

I thought about Natalie's predicament for a couple of minutes. I had a feeling that she would want to spend time with Jack, for she was already convinced from last night that the men who landed in our front yard were the same guys from 5D's. Then I had an idea. Turning to Natalie while she was trying to get ready, I replied,

"I know. I'll call the hospital and tell them you're sick. They'll probably ask me to do them a favor but it's ok. I know you want to spend time with a certain someone today."

Natalie blushed slightly as I alluded that she wanted to spend time with Jack. However, she looked happy and replied, "Would you do that? I would so owe you."

I grinned and replied, "You totally would but sure. You're my friend, after all."

I left Natalie and picked up my cell phone. I dialed the hospital number and explained about Natalie not being able to come in. Although the hospital staff supervisor accepted the excuse, she asked me if I would come in sometime next week to do a reading for the children at the hospital and I happily accepted. I enjoyed reading for the children at the hospital whenever I had a chance to do so.

After getting off the phone, I returned to Natalie and said, "It's all taken care of. I saw that Jack's awake and he has questions, to say the least. Yusei's awake as well so I think we should all go downstairs and then have the explanations."

Natalie nodded and replied, "Ok. I'll finish up here and take Jack to the living room."

I nodded and then went into my room. I thought it was a good idea as well to change clothes and freshen up a bit. So I went into my bathroom to splash some water on my face and then went to the closet to grab a change of clothes. I wanted to be comfortable so I chose a pair of dark blue jeans and a light red T-shirt with the symbol of the phoenix on it. Then I tied my hair in a high ponytail and after making sure that I looked decent, I left my room and returned to Yusei.

Once I returned to Yusei's room, I saw that he was sitting up and looking out the window. He looked to be deep in thought and it seemed almost a shame to disturb him when he was in such a state. It turned out that I didn't need to, as he heard me return and turned to see me. I looked at him softly and said,

"Sorry about that but everything's ok now. Your friend's awake as well so Natalie and I thought that we should all go downstairs and then we can figure out what's going on."

For the first time, Yusei replied, "Jack's here? I want to see him."

I nodded and waited for Yusei to get out of bed and to put on his boots before leading the way to the living room. Yusei didn't seem to need my help so I waited patiently until he was ready. Then I led the way downstairs and to the living room and there, I saw Natalie and Jack seated. Natalie was in an armchair looking like she was trying to contain her excitement while Jack sat on the sofa with his arms across his chest and annoyance written across his face.

Jack saw Yusei and immediately stood up, saying, "Yusei, no one's telling me what's going on here. It's obvious that we're being held for ransom! We need to get out of here, get my Wheel of Fortune, and find those dark signers who were chasing us."

I stood a little back, listening to what Jack had said. Of course, Jack's claim that Natalie and I were holding he and Yusei for ransom was ridiculous but what got my attention was the part about the dark signers. That was what Natalie and I had seen when we were watching 5D's last night. Could Natalie be right? Could these two be Yusei and Jack from the same anime? It seemed unbelievable but this was another coincidence and even I didn't believe in such a thing as too many coincidences.

Yusei faced Jack and putting his right hand on Jack's left shoulder, he replied, "Calm down, Jack. I'm sure that everything will be explained soon and I doubt that these two are kidnappers. They don't look like kidnappers."

Then Yusei turned to Natalie and me and said, "I'm sorry about Jack but this is a little confusing."

I glanced at Natalie, wondering whether she wanted to say something but she seemed to be a little too nervous at the moment so I decided to take the lead in speaking. I replied, "It's ok. I think we should start with the introductions. I'm Callie Winthrop and this is Natalie Demark." I gestured to Natalie who simply nodded.

Yusei nodded and replied, "I'm Yusei Fudo and this is Jack Atlas. It's nice to meet you both."

Jack simply grunted in reply but I didn't take offense to that since I'd seen a lot worse behavior from people upon introducing themselves.

Yusei then looked at me and asked, "Can you tell us what happened?"

I took a deep breath and replied, "Sure. Natalie and I were watching TV here last night and then there was this bright flash of light outside. We went to check it out and saw you two both lying unconscious on our front yard. We took you inside and Natalie made sure that there were no injuries and thankfully there were none. And as to the mystery of your, umm…"

I didn't know whether to call them duel runners or D-wheels so I trailed off but Yusei then said, "Our duel runners?"

I nodded and replied, "Yup, that's it. I took the liberty of bringing them into our garage so they wouldn't get stolen. That's all we know."

I paused for a few moments and then asked, "Do either of you remember what happened or how you got here? Natalie and I just found you so we have no explanations on that."

Yusei accepted my explanation and Jack didn't say anything so I assumed that he accepted it as well. Yusei then turned to me and replied, "I remember that Jack and I were riding in the streets of New Domino and then all of a sudden, these new dark signers showed up, wanting to challenge us to a duel. Then we saw a bright flash of light and the next thing we know, we wake up here. By the way, where is here exactly? This doesn't look like one of the houses in New Domino."

I replied, "Umm, this is our house and I don't know how to say this but you're not in New Domino. We're closer to New York actually." I decided not to mention that New Domino doesn't exist in this world. I didn't want to shock Yusei or Jack anymore than they probably already were. At the mention of New Domino, Natalie turned to me and with a look, it was like she was saying, _Now do you believe that this is the same Jack and Yusei?_ At that point, I had to admit to myself that it looked to be the case. It was either that or these two men had gone delusional and really believed that they were Yusei and Jack from 5D's.

Suddenly, Jack exclaimed, "What?! We have to get out of here now and get back to New Domino. Those dark signers will pay for this!"

Yusei sighed and replied calmly, "Jack, we'll find a way to get back but first we have to find out how we got here and I have to see whether our duel runners got damaged." He turned to me and said, "I'd like to see my duel runner so I can see how much damage it took and I should see to Jack's, too."

I nodded and replied, "Sure, I'll take you to them now."

As I was about to lead the way to the garage, Natalie finally spoke up and said, "But first, we need coffee and food. I'm sure Jack and Yusei must be starving, am I right?"

Jack replied, "Finally someone who understands. I want my blue eyes mountain."

Feeling a little annoyed by Jack's behavior, I gave him a look and replied, "None of the coffee shops here serve that so you'll have to do without it."

Jack looked like he was ready to reply back with a look of his own when Yusei spoke up and said, "There might be a good substitute for it, Jack."

Natalie nodded and replied happily, "Yup, there should be. Why don't I go out and buy coffee for everyone?"

Immediately, I shook my head and replied, "That's not a good idea, Natalie, remember?" As Natalie had no idea what I was alluding to, I continued, "I told your supervisor that you were sick today so if you were suddenly seen in the city…"

Natalie blushed with embarrassment and replied, "Oh yeah. I forgot."

Then I replied, "I'll go get coffee and some donuts or something. I'll be back in a little while." I left the living room and as I was getting my keys, including the ones for my car, I heard footsteps close behind me. I turned around and saw that Yusei had followed me. As I was about to speak, Yusei said,

"I'd like to give you an extra set of hands. It's the least I could do after you and your friend helped us."

Yusei gave such a warm smile that I found it difficult to refuse. I remembered seeing that same smile in 5D's although it wasn't often that I saw it. However, seeing it as well as the man before me made me feel a little shy which was so unlike me.

As we stood facing each other, I realized that I hadn't given an answer so I replied, "Oh sure. That would be great. Follow me then."

Then I led the way out of the house and to my car which was parked in the garage. After Yusei and I got in, I started the car and off we went towards the city.

 **Chapter 4**

The drive to the city started out relatively quiet. Neither Yusei nor I spoke as we were on the road heading towards the city. I was convinced that the man sitting next to me was Yusei and that, back at the house, the guy with Natalie was Jack. As I drove on, I had a few thoughts racing in my head. First, I wondered how Yusei and Jack were able to enter this world. Such a phenomenon definitely shouldn't have happened and yet it did. I had no explanations although I would be sure to search for them. Second, I thought about how Yusei and Jack would be able to return to their world, if they were able to do so at all. Although I was pretty certain that Natalie wouldn't mind if Jack stayed forever-and I had to admit to myself that it wouldn't be so bad if Yusei could stay here-the conscientious part of me knew that they had to return to New Domino and set things right. I had a feeling that if they didn't, the story in the anime would become messed up somehow and the fans would be in for quite a shock. Also, at least for Yusei, Jack, and the other people in New Domino, New Domino was real to them, even if to others, it was only an anime series.

Finally, I had a nervous feeling inside of me. Unlike Natalie who was quite excited and overjoyed that she finally met her crush Jack, I had butterflies in my stomach. I wasn't sure what this feeling was. It wasn't that I was unhappy to finally meet Yusei. In fact, the feeling was the opposite. However, to meet the man whom I compared other men to stirred a feeling inside of me that I never felt before. For myself, I have high expectations when it comes to meeting the right guy. I wonder if this was why I hadn't found him yet. But then I started watching Yu-Gi-Oh 5D's and got to know Yusei. He embodied all of the traits that I was looking for in the right man and I told myself that if I ever found such a man in this world who even came close to him, I would consider settling down. However, I hadn't found such a man so when I saw Yusei before me, I wondered whether it was a sign. Would it be possible to have a relationship with him and perhaps finally be happy? Quickly, I shook my head, thinking to myself,

 _Stop it, Callie. Even if you wanted to, you can't mess things up for everybody else. Yusei and Akiza are meant to be together and you can't fight fate._

I must have been quiet for too long since Yusei suddenly looked at me with slight concern in his eyes and asked,

"Are you all right? You shook your head just now."

Mentally, I smacked myself for even revealing a glimmer of my thoughts although fortunately for me, Yusei had no idea what I was thinking. I briefly glanced at him before turning my eyes back to the road, saying,

"I'm fine. Probably just didn't sleep well last night or something."

Although I couldn't see Yusei's reaction to my response, I had a feeling that he knew I wasn't telling the truth and so he replied,

"There's something more but I won't press about it. You can tell me when you feel ready, ok?"

His voice sounded gentle and soothing and I felt my cheeks suddenly burning. Fortunately, we finally arrived in the city and I looked around for the usual coffee shop that Natalie and I went to order coffee. I parked the car in a lot next to the shop and after Yusei and I went out of the car, I led the way to the coffee shop.

Once inside the shop, I looked around and fortunately, it wasn't crowded. I wanted to order coffee and some donuts or pastries quickly and then return to the house. Although, at this time, there were mostly adults hanging around and a lot of them don't watch anime, I didn't want to take the risk that Yusei could be identified. I knew that I would have to tell him the whole truth eventually but now wasn't the time.

I approached the manager of the shop who recognized me as a regular customer as well as a famous patron. She saw Yusei standing next to me and with a smile on her face, she said,

"Good morning, Ms. Callie. You're here for the usual, I assume? And it looks like you finally got yourself a boyfriend."

I shook my head quickly and replied, "No, no, he's not my boyfriend. He's just a friend. This is Yusei." I gestured towards Yusei and I could see that his cheeks had a slight blush, probably from embarrassment at being called my boyfriend.

The manager laughed a bit and replied, "I see. My apologies. It wouldn't be such a bad thing if he were your boyfriend, though. Certain people would get off your case."

I sighed and replied, "I suppose. If you're not too busy, would you get the usual order for Natalie and me?" I turned to Yusei and asked, "What do you like? You look like someone who likes black coffee with no sugar or anything of the sort but I could be wrong. And what about Jack? I have no idea which coffee here would come close to what he usually orders."

Yusei replied, "Black coffee's fine. As for Jack, I don't really know what a blue eyes mountain tastes like. Crow tried it once and said it tastes horrible. He has no idea how Jack can stand that stuff but if I had to guess, it might taste like one of those mint coffees?"

I nodded and looked at the menu, choosing a coffee that would be closest to what a blue eyes mountain might taste like. I gave the order to the manager along with a large order of donuts, pastries, and bagels. I wanted to make sure that we had enough food for everyone.

After the manager left to fulfill the order, I turned to Yusei and said, "I'm sorry about that-the thing about being called my boyfriend."

Yusei shook his head and replied, "It's all right but I am curious. What did she mean about certain people getting on your case?"

I replied, "It's a long story but let's just say it has to do with certain family members as well as a certain agent who refuses to leave me alone at times." Yusei looked confused when I mentioned agent so I clarified by saying, "I'm a writer and I've had a couple of books published so I have a publicity agent and all. Quite troublesome, though. I'd rather be left alone to let my creativity flow than be bombarded with public image and all that."

Yusei nodded and replied, "I see. I understand what you mean about being in the public spotlight. I don't like being in front of it, either."

I remembered watching an episode of 5D's where Yusei had won the Fortune Cup tournament and all the press were chasing him, wanting to get an interview. However, Yusei managed to escape them so I thought that he might have been referring to that incident at the mention of the public spotlight.

Our coffee order as well as food arrived and after I paid for everything, I said goodbye to the manager and led the way back to the car. Yusei and I got in my car and then we began the drive back to my house. It was pretty quiet on the way back as well although I did at one point say,

"After we have coffee, we'll take a look at your duel runner and see if it's ok. I don't have much knowledge about mechanics but I hope it's ok."

Yusei replied, "Thank you. Same here."

We arrived back at the house and I parked the car in the garage. Then we entered through the front door and to the living room and there was Natalie and Jack sitting together on the sofa. It looked like Natalie was doing her best to talk to Jack while trying not to sound too excited. Jack heard Yusei and me enter and said,

"Finally you're back. What took so long?"

I felt annoyed by Jack's behavior and gave Natalie a look that said,

 _How in the world can you stand this guy?_

However, Yusei replied, "Sorry, Jack. It did take a while but we have a lot of food and you're probably hungry."

Yusei handed Jack his coffee along with the bag of food and that seemed to satisfy Jack for the time being. I gave Natalie her usual coffee and I took my usual while Yusei took his. Yusei then turned to me and asked,

"Can I look at our duel runners? I can drink coffee while looking at them."

I nodded and replied, "Sure, no problem."

Yusei turned to Jack and said, "I'll come back when I know what's going on."

Jack replied, "Hurry back soon." Then he turned to me and said, "It's not bad but it's no blue eyes."

I simply rolled my eyes and then led the way to the garage where I put Yusei's and Jack's duel runners last night.

Once we arrived in the garage, I pointed to the duel runners and Yusei walked over to them. He looked at his duel runner first and then Jack's Wheel of Fortune. I sat a little distance away from Yusei so he could have his space and think. Quietly, I observed him and although I knew that he was pretty good at hiding his emotions, I could see from the look in his eyes as well as the position of his mouth that things weren't good. I looked at him and asked,

"Is everything ok? Is your duel runner all right?"

Yusei looked back at me and with worry in his voice, he replied, "This isn't good. This isn't good at all…"

 **Chapter 5**

I waited for a response from Yusei, wondering what was wrong. However, he only stared at me. I couldn't figure out if it was because he was in too much shock to tell me or if he thought that I wouldn't understand what was wrong. So I put down my coffee on a nearby table and walked over to Yusei's duel runner to take a closer look.

I looked at it for a minute and although I had absolutely no knowledge about duel runners, some of the components didn't look that much different from those of a computer. Yusei had opened up the outer panel of his duel runner so I could see where the damage was. Some of the wires looked like they had been burned and some of the circuits looked damaged beyond recognition.

Facing Yusei, I replied, "It looks like some of the parts of your duel runner are heavily damaged. It seems like they've been through an intense fire or something."

Yusei looked surprised that I had closely identified the problem but nodding, he replied, "Yeah, that's what I thought, too. Jack's has the same damage. We did take heavy damage from those dark signers but I didn't think it would be so bad."

I replied, "I see. Do you think you can repair the damage?"

Yusei replied, "I can but the problem is the parts. If I was back in New Domino, I could easily order the parts and use my computer to inspect the damage further but…"

Although Yusei trailed off, I understood his point. Getting the parts as well as a new computer along with the software, for I knew that Yusei needed special software to inspect his duel runner, would be quite expensive and he probably didn't have the money to pay for them. Immediately, I replied,

"I got it. Let's go into the city and find the parts as well as a new computer. I'll pay for everything. Then you'll be able to fix your duel runner."

Yusei shook his head and replied, "That's very kind of you but I can't let you do that."

I shook my head and with a soft smile, I replied, "I'd be happy to. You and Jack need to go back and if I can help, I certainly will."

Yusei looked like he was about to refuse my offer again when I continued, "I'm not taking no for an answer. End of discussion." I was firm on my offer to help and wasn't going to back down. I wasn't sure what Yusei was thinking at that moment but if I had to guess, I'd bet that he was surprised that I wanted to help him when I knew that he was the one used to helping others.

Finally, Yusei gave me a smile that I recognized and that made my heart melt at times and replied,

"How can I refuse? Thank you. Let's go tell Jack and then drive to the city to get the parts."

I nodded and led the way back to the living room where I could see Jack and Natalie talking to one another. Well, it looked like Natalie was doing more of the talking although it seemed like Jack was taking an interest in what she was saying. Jack heard Yusei and me enter and looked at us although he didn't say anything. I guess he was waiting for either one of us to speak.

Yusei looked at Jack and said, "The damage is worse than I thought but I can fix them. I'll need to buy the parts to repair our duel runners and Callie was kind to offer to pay for them."

Jack replied, "I see. So we're stuck here until then."

Yusei replied, "Yeah, looks like it."

Natalie turned to Jack and said, "Then this will be a great chance to show you around. I'm sure you'd be bored stuck in this house all day."

I didn't think that it was such a good idea for Natalie to take Jack outside since it was possible that someone could recognize him and that the truth would come out sooner than I would have wanted. I looked at Natalie and said,

"Umm can I speak to you for a few minutes alone?"

Natalie looked confused but nodded and replied, "Ok." She turned to Jack and said, "I'll be right back." She and I then walked out of the living room and stopped at the front hall entrance. Once we were alone, I looked at Natalie and said,

"I know you're excited to see Jack and all but I think it's a bad idea to take him outside. What if someone recognizes him? You know, a total stranger could point to Jack and say, 'Hey, isn't that Jack Atlas from Yu-Gi-Oh 5D's?' What then? How would we explain it to them?"

Natalie replied, "Well, couldn't we just tell them the truth if that happens?"

I shook my head and replied, "They need to know but not right now. The shock would be too much. If we were in their shoes, how do you think we'd react?"

Natalie thought about my words for a minute and then sighing, she replied, "Ok, I see your point. But maybe Jack can be in disguise? You remember that episode where he and Carly were walking around in New Domino and Jack had that disguise on. That could work here."

I replied, "Yeah, that could work. Only one problem is how to convince Jack to use a disguise. He's not the type to want to hide himself."

Natalie replied, "That part's easy. I'll explain that he's very famous and that if he wants to avoid being mobbed by fan girls, he should wear a disguise!"

I couldn't help but laugh a little at Natalie reply but I agreed that it was a plausible idea. Nodding, I replied, "Ok, I'm fine with that."

Natalie grinned and was about to go back to the living room when she faced me again and said, "Wait a minute. You took Yusei out and didn't make him wear a disguise. What gives? And he's even more recognizable than Jack."

I replied, "You're right but Yusei and I went out in the morning and most of the people who know him are kids and they're in school right now. Most of the adults around here don't watch anime, you know. We're the exception, and, so far, Yusei hasn't been recognized. Besides, he's not going to make himself stand out, unlike Jack. Yusei's like me in that way." I blushed a little after having said the latter comment, feeling a connection with Yusei in that neither of us liked having the attention.

Natalie noticed my blush and pointing at my face, she replied, "I knew it. You're falling for him."

I shook my head vehemently and replied, "No, no, not at all. It's just cool that we end up having something in common, that's all."

Natalie replied, "If you say so but I bet that you're going to end up falling in love with him before long."

I was about to reply, denying Natalie's words, when I heard footsteps approaching. I looked over Natalie's right shoulder and I saw Yusei approach us. He looked at the two of us and asked,

"Is everything ok?"

Natalie replied, "Oh yes, everything's fine. We were done. I'll go back to Jack now." She then went back to the living room to keep Jack company.

Once Yusei and I were alone, Yusei looked at me and said, "I'd like to go into the city and get the parts that we need so we'll need to go into a hardware store and a computer shop. I can program the software myself as long as I have the parts that I need. Are you sure you're ok with this?"

I nodded and replied happily, "Of course. I totally want to help so you have to accept or else I'll be insulted." I gave Yusei a cute pout and he chuckled happily. I never heard him laugh before but it was a pleasant sound to my ears and I turned off to the side, hoping that I wouldn't blush. It seemed that whenever Yusei was around or the topic of conversation revolved around him, I couldn't help but blush. That definitely didn't happen with other men so without a doubt, there was something different, something special, about Yusei that made me feel warm and happy inside.

After a few moments of silence between us, Yusei said, "Thank you again. We should get going."

I nodded and replied, "You're right. I'll drive."

Yusei and I then went back into my car and I drove again towards the city, heading towards first the hardware store and then the computer and electronics shop to buy the items needed to help Yusei fix the duel runners.

 **Chapter 6**

Yusei and I arrived back in the city to do some shopping. First, we headed to the hardware store to buy the tools as well as parts to fix the duel runners. Then we went to the electronics shop to buy the computer as well as some other electronic items. Although the total cost of the items turned out to be pretty expensive, I didn't mind paying for everything. Fortunately, my job as a writer was bringing in a decent amount of money so I could afford to pay for the items. Also, as I was a well-known patron at the electronics shop, I received a special discount whenever I shopped there exclusively so the total cost was lower.

After we bought everything that was needed and loaded all the items into my car, Yusei and I headed back towards the house. During the drive, Yusei turned to me and said,

"I'm sorry for all of this."

Looking confused, I briefly glanced at Yusei and asked, "What do you mean?"

Yusei replied, "You and Natalie shouldn't have been burdened with this. Finding Jack and me, making sure that we were ok, and now paying for all of this. It's too much to ask of anyone."

I shook my head and replied, "It's not your fault. It's no one's fault. Please don't feel bad about this. First, Natalie and I couldn't leave the two of you lying on the front yard like that. It wouldn't have been right and we were worried. Second, it's obvious that these dark signers are bad people and it's not your fault that they caused this damage. And it's not a burden to help you out. Even if I was poor, it still wouldn't be a burden. I'm sure you'd do the same if I was in trouble."

Yusei gave me a small smile and replied, "You're very understanding. Thank you. It's a little weird to be on this end for a change."

I replied, "Huh?"

Yusei explained, "I mean, I'm usually the one who's out helping people, no matter what it is. So it's different to be the one getting help."

I smiled to myself and replied, "It's nice, isn't it?" I noticed that we had arrived back at the house so I continued, "We're back."

After parking the car, I got out and Yusei did the same. Then we unloaded all the items and set them up in the garage. It took quite a bit of heavy lifting but I didn't mind. Yusei and I set up all of the equipment so that Yusei could have a decent working station from which to examine the duel runners and repair them. All of the work took up the rest of the morning hours.

Once we were done, I took a seat in the garage and said, "We could use a break and since it's almost lunchtime, I can go make us something to eat."

Yusei nodded and I took it as a sign to go start making lunch. However, as I was about to enter the house, I saw Natalie and Jack enter the garage. It looked like they were ready to go out. The sight of them had me speechless. Natalie was wearing a light tan trench coat with a hat to match and dark sunglasses. I wasn't that surprised by Natalie's outfit since I guessed that she probably didn't want any of her coworkers to recognize her when she was supposed to be sick. However, I was more shocked at what Jack wore. I observed that he was wearing a disguise so Natalie definitely convinced him to go through with it. He was wearing black jeans and a white T-shirt that said "I'm not stupid, ok?" along with a black jean jacket. Seeing that shirt made me want to laugh although I did my best not to, knowing how annoyed Jack would get at anyone making fun of him.

After recovering from my moment of shock, I looked at Natalie and asked, "Are you two going out? And wearing that?"

Jack gave me a look and replied in annoyance, "And what's wrong with it? It's fine to me although I don't see the point of being in disguise. I am Jack Atlas, the King, after all."

I muttered under my breath, "Former king, you mean." I knew that based on the anime at that point, Yusei was the duel king and not Jack.

However, Jack looked like he heard my comment as he replied angrily, "What did you say?"

Quickly, Natalie replied, "Callie, it's obvious why we're wearing these clothes. You said so yourself that I can't be seen outside so I have to disguise myself and I talked to Jack about the need to have a disguise for now. And yes, these are Nathan's clothes. I couldn't find anything else that would fit Jack." Nathan was Natalie's older brother and he was about the same height and build as Jack so it made sense that Jack would wear Nathan's clothes.

Natalie then turned to Jack and said, "Don't worry. We can buy you some new clothes later today." She then turned to me and said, "I don't want Jack to be bored all day so I'm taking him out to lunch, then to the beach, and then clothes shopping. We'll be back before it gets dark." Natalie knew that I got worried about her at times so that's why she made the latter comment.

I replied, "That's fine but shouldn't Jack stay to help Yusei?" I felt bad that it looked like Yusei would have the burden of fixing both duel runners although I was willing to help out wherever I could.

Yusei turned to me and said, "It's probably better for Jack to go out. I can concentrate better by myself and Natalie's right. Jack will be bored stuck inside all day."

Natalie turned to me with a look that read "I told you so."

I nodded and replied, "All right. Have fun and be careful and if anything happens to Natalie," I turned to Jack with a glare, "I'm holding you responsible."

Jack scoffed and replied, "Nothing will happen. She couldn't be in better hands."

After Natalie and Jack left in Natalie's car, I sighed, shook my head, and sat back down. I couldn't believe that Natalie and Jack would leave like that although there was nothing I could have done to stop them. Yusei looked at me, noticing my expression, and walked over to me, placing his right hand on my left shoulder. I looked up at him and he smiled softly at me and said,

"Don't worry about them, ok? Jack will make sure that Natalie will be safe."

I nodded and replied, "I'm sure but I can't believe that they would leave like that. Well, I'm not that surprised with Natalie. She does tend to do things like this at times but Jack really should have stayed to help you. His duel runner got damaged, too, and he's your friend, isn't he?"

Yusei replied, "I'm used to Jack. He can help out if he has to but it's usually better for me to fix anything mechanical by myself. Jack's a good friend. He's one of the best. He just has his own way of showing that he cares. I can see that he likes Natalie."

I nodded and replied, "I noticed. Jack does seem to tolerate her better than me for sure."

Yusei chuckled and replied, "That's true. I am a little surprised that you don't like Jack."

I laughed quietly and replied, "It's that obvious, huh? But you're right. I don't hate him but I can't understand how Natalie can tolerate him, let alone like him."

Yusei replied, "A lot of women do like him so I'm surprised that you're not like them."

I smiled bashfully and turning my head to the side, I replied, "Looks aren't everything, you know. I value personality and the warmth of a man's heart more but that's just me."

Seeing where this line of conversation might lead, I decided to change the subject and said, "I should go make lunch now. What do you want?"

Yusei decided to go along with the change of subject and replied, "Anything is fine."

"But no ramen," Yusei and I both said at the same time. We realized that we had both said the same thing then and laughed for a few moments.

Yusei was the first to recover and said, "How did you know?"

I calmed down and was about to say that I knew about Jack's obsession with ramen but then that would have revealed that I knew more about Jack and Yusei than I was ready to admit. So instead I replied, "I didn't, not for sure. But Natalie absolutely loves it and eats it whenever she gets the chance. It's a good thing that I did the grocery shopping this week. If it had been Natalie, we would have only had ramen in the house. You know, I bet that's why they went out."

Yusei laughed at my reply and said, "I can see that. Jack loves ramen a lot. He gets a little crazy over it. So anything as long as it's not ramen."

I got up and nodded, heading to the kitchen to make lunch. I decided on a simple meal of turkey and chicken sandwiches along with glasses of fruit juice. After I finished preparing the food, I took the plate of sandwiches and placed it along with the glasses of juice on a tray. Then I took the tray into the garage so Yusei could eat while he worked on his duel runner.

The early hours of the afternoon were fairly quiet. Yusei worked on his duel runner, examining it and removing old parts to replace them with new ones. I would help out whenever I could and although there were times that Yusei would tell me to take a break or that I didn't need to burden myself with helping him, I'd always reply that I wanted to help him and that the repairs would go faster with me assisting him. I suppose the logic made sense, as Yusei didn't try to argue with me after I made that point.

Later that afternoon, Yusei and I took a break from the repairs and I looked at the time on my cell phone. I noticed that it was getting late and that neither Natalie nor Jack had returned. As I was about to call Natalie to see what was going on, my phone rang and I saw by the caller ID that it was Natalie. Immediately, I picked it up and said,

"Hey, Natalie. We were wondering-."

"Callie, we're in trouble! Dark signers are at the beach and ahhh!"

The phone line went dead and I replied, "Natalie! Natalie!" However, there was no response.

Immediately, I got up and ran to my car, intending to drive to the beach to see the trouble and help Natalie, as it was pretty obvious that she was in some sort of danger. Yusei heard the conversation and followed me into my car, only getting his duel disk from his duel runner. Then we raced towards the beach and although neither of us said anything on the way, I could tell that both of us were thinking the same thing. We needed to get to Natalie and perhaps Jack before anything terrible happened to either of them.

 **Chapter 7**

I took the road that was the shortest route to the beach. All the while, I was worried about Natalie and hoped that nothing bad had happened to her. As Yusei and I arrived close to the beach, I could see many cars heading away from the beach, speeding off. Anyone who didn't have a car was running away as fast as their feet could take them. Yusei and I knew that something was definitely wrong.

I parked the car in the nearby parking lot and then we got out, running towards the beach. As we got close, I could see a huge cloud of purplish black smoke. However, I couldn't see Natalie or Jack anywhere and I hadn't seen either of them as we hurried toward the beach. Before I could wonder out loud where either of them could be, Yusei turned to me and said,

"Stay here. I'll find them."

I replied, "But I can help-."

Yusei interrupted me by replying, "It's too dangerous. I'll be all right." Then he ran into the huge cloud of smoke before I could reply.

Now anyone who truly knew me would know that I wasn't the kind of person who would sit back and do nothing, especially when my friends could be in danger, and I certainly wasn't going to stay put, hoping that Natalie was ok. Without another thought, I ran towards the smoke, following Yusei's trail but being careful not to be too close.

Once I was inside the smoke, my vision was blurred. I couldn't see anything distinguishable in front of me but my hearing was acute so I could clearly hear voices. I heard Yusei yell,

"Jack, where are you? Is Natalie ok?"

I could hear Jack reply, "One of those dark signers has her! I'll defeat this one and get her back."

Then I could hear an unfamiliar voice reply, "You won't get your girlfriend back! It's time to finish you off, Jack Atlas!"

During all of this, I couldn't hear Natalie's voice so I concluded that either she was unconscious or she wasn't able to say anything. I know that I probably should have stayed put, hoping that Jack would defeat the dark signer and get Natalie back but I was never one to let others take action if I could affect the outcome somehow. So I stayed still, waiting to hear any other sounds or voices. It took a little time but finally I could hear a faint sound coming from my left. I ran towards the direction of the sound, being vigilant of my surroundings the entire time. I looked forward and then I could barely see Natalie gagged and restrained by a dark signer. The dark signer held a knife to Natalie's neck, ready to strike, and I could see why Jack couldn't immediately get to her and had to duel the other dark signer instead.

Fortunately, the dark signer holding Natalie hadn't seen me yet so I used this to my advantage. I walked quietly to a position where I was behind Natalie and the dark signer. When the time was right, I quickly pushed the dark signer from behind, making him let go of Natalie and the knife at the same time. However, the dark signer quickly recovered and was ready to strike back but I had anticipated such a move so I punched him in the stomach, making him unconscious. Breathing a sigh of relief, I was glad that my plan had worked, despite that I had thought of it at the spur of the moment.

Natalie saw the whole thing but, of course, she couldn't say anything since she was still gagged and tied up. Once I was certain that the dark signer wouldn't get up, I ran over to Natalie and took the gag off and freed her. Natalie was about to speak when I put my right index finger to my lips, silently telling her not to say anything. Then I helped her up and was about to run when I couldn't help but take another look at the unconscious dark signer. He looked familiar although I had no idea where I'd seen him before. He definitely wasn't from 5D's but he looked like someone from this world.

I was standing there when I felt my right hand being pulled and I looked at Natalie. Natalie was indicating to me that we needed to get out of there before the dark signer woke up and realized what had happened. Nodding, I ran with her back towards where I heard Yusei, Jack, and the other dark signer were talking.

After Natalie and I arrived where Jack and the dark signer were dueling, the smoke was still present although it was gradually dissipating. I could see Yusei nearby and I saw the duel between Jack and the dark signer taking place. As Natalie and I watched, Jack faced his opponent with a glare and exclaimed,

"I synchro summon Red Dragon Archfiend!"

Before me, I could see Jack's duel monster appear and although I knew that there was no way it was supposed to appear, there it was in front of my eyes. Then Jack continued,

"Now it's time to finish _you_ off and make you pay!"

The dark signer laughed evilly and replied, "I thought this might happen so now!" He looked towards the direction where the other dark signer who had held Natalie was. The unconscious dark signer was slowly coming to and looked around, realizing that Natalie was gone. Jack noticed as well that Natalie wasn't there and so wasn't in danger any more so he said,

"Red Dragon Archfiend, attack!"

I saw the duel monster attack the dark signer directly, as he had no monsters on the field or any trap cards. The attack brought the dark signer's life points to zero and Jack won the duel. The smoke cleared up and Jack's opponent glared at Jack, saying,

"You got lucky this time but you won't be next time we meet!" Then the dark signer disappeared and soon there was no trace of him.

Meanwhile, the other dark signer had fainted and his cloak had disappeared. Then I could see that he was wearing normal casual clothes and I could see his face clearly. I realized who he was; he was my agent Mac Jeffries. I wondered how he had become a dark signer although he clearly wasn't one now. I supposed Jack defeating his opponent released the curse on Mac even though it was only a guess on my part.

As our surroundings were returning to normal, Jack and Yusei looked around until they finally saw Natalie and me. Jack ran to Natalie and asked,

"What happened? How'd you get free?"

Natalie pointed to me and replied, "Callie got me." She looked at me and said, "You were quick, too."

I shrugged and replied, "I guess those self-defense classes finally paid off."

Jack looked at me and said, "I didn't need your help. I would have gotten your friend safe."

I was a little annoyed at Jack for giving me attitude. I was about to retort when Yusei said,

"The important thing is that everyone is ok."

I glanced at Yusei and I could tell that he knew that I felt a little annoyed. Breathing a sigh of relief, I looked over at where Mac was and ran over to him. I wanted to make sure that he was ok and to find out what happened.

Yusei followed me and asked, "What are you doing?"

Having reached Mac, I checked him to make sure that he was all right and fortunately, he was. I turned to Yusei and said,

"This is Mac, my publicity agent. It looked like he was under a spell or something but he seems ok now and I want answers."

I waited for Mac to regain consciousness and after a few minutes, he did. He looked at me all confused and asked,

"Ms. Callie, is that you? Where am I? How did I get here?" He looked at his surroundings, clearly not remembering what had just happened.

Yusei stood nearby but didn't say or do anything. He looked at me and gave a nod, silently telling me that it was ok for me to handle the situation. I turned back to Mac and replied,

"You don't remember anything? Nothing at all?"

Mac shook his head and replied, "Nothing. The last thing I remember was watching TV and there was this flash of white light. Next thing I know, I wake up here and see you. Did you pull a prank on me or something?"

Despite the situation, I gave a small smile at hearing Mac's comment about the whole situation being a prank. I wish it had been but it wasn't and Natalie was in danger because of what happened. I helped Mac on his feet and said,

"You must be tired. I'll call a taxi to take you home and we can talk later, ok?"

Mac nodded and replied, "Ok. I'm still confused as to what happened to me but ok. And Ms. Callie, I will hound you later about that party next week. You have to find a date or I'll find one for you." He winked mischievously at me and I rolled my eyes.

I replied, "You're thinking about work at a time like this? But then again, I'm not surprised." I shook my head, took my phone and called a taxi company to request a taxi for Mac. I only hoped that the incident hadn't reached the news yet or else Mac might have more trouble getting a ride.

It took 15 minutes but fortunately, a taxi did arrive and Mac got inside. Once the taxi was out of sight and I knew that Mac would be safe, I ran back to Yusei and said,

"Let's get back to Natalie and Jack. I should tell them what happened with Mac although he doesn't remember anything. It's not much but I guess I should be relieved. It's better for him not to remember something this incredible."

Yusei nodded and we walked back to where Natalie and Jack were.

 **Chapter 8**

Yusei and I walked back to where Natalie and Jack were. Although the walk was short and we reached the others in very little time, Yusei kept giving me weird glances. I wasn't sure what to make of them but figured that he'd ask me later if something was bothering him.

When we reached Natalie and Jack, Jack looked at us and asked,

"Where have you two been?"

I looked at Jack and replied, "I knew that dark signer who had Natalie looked familiar so I went to check him out. Turns out that I do know him. It was Mac."

Natalie looked at me with a confused look and asked, "Mac? As in Mac Jeffries, your agent?"

I nodded and replied, "The one and the same. I questioned him and all but he has no memory of what happened. Just as well, I suppose. I doubt he'd want to remember holding you at knife point."

Natalie shuddered and replied, "Yeah. I won't forget that for a while."

I looked at Natalie and with a small smile, I replied, "I'm glad that you're ok. I should probably take you to a doctor-."

Natalie interrupted me by saying, "I'm fine, Callie. I don't want to see a doctor. I just want to go home and forget about this."

I replied, "But I think you should see a doctor to make sure you're ok."

Again, Natalie protested by saying, "Really, Callie, you worry too much. All I need is some food and a good night's sleep and I'll be as right as rain."

Although I still thought that Natalie should see a doctor, I could see the stubborn look in her eyes and had a feeling that she wouldn't budge. So reluctantly, I replied,

"All right. I won't fight you on this. Where's your car?"

Natalie led the way to where her car was parked and Yusei, Jack, and I followed. However, when we arrived at the lot where Natalie's car was supposed to be, there was only the ruins of what was once a car. Natalie yelled,

"Noes! My car! It was a new one, too."

Yusei replied, "It probably took damage when those dark signers came."

I nodded and added, "That was my guess as well. We can all take my car in the meantime." As my car was spacious, enough for four passengers, I had no trouble accommodating everyone.

Natalie replied sadly, "Aww ok."

Jack noticed how sad Natalie was and glancing at her, he said, "Don't worry. We'll get those dark signers and make them pay."

Natalie looked back at Jack and replied, "Yup. They'll be sorry."

I put my head down, hiding the smile on my face. Despite that I didn't like Jack, I could see that he cared for Natalie and that made me happy.

We all returned to my car and had to hurry while doing so. I could see from a short distance that there were TV camera crews as well as newspaper reporters arriving on the scene and I knew that it was best to avoid being seen. Especially, I didn't want Yusei or Jack to end up being on the evening news for obvious reasons. Fortunately, after we got in my car and drove away from the scene, no one followed us so I was relieved that we were safe for now.

I headed straight for home, hoping that there wouldn't be any more incidents along the way. The ride was pretty silent. From a sideways glance, I could see that Natalie looked tired. She was sitting in the passenger seat while I took the driver's seat. In the rearview mirror, I could see Yusei and Jack. It looked like they wanted to talk to each other but knowing that Natalie and I would overhear them, I could guess that they wanted to talk when they were alone.

After about 30 minutes, we arrived back at the house and I parked the car in the garage. Then we all got out but as we were going inside, Yusei looked at me and said,

"Jack and I need to talk alone. Is that ok?"

I was curious as to what they wanted to talk about that Natalie and I couldn't be privy to but nodding, I replied,

"Sure. I'll take Natalie to her room so she can get some rest."

Then Natalie and I went upstairs while Yusei and Jack went to the living room to have their talk. After Natalie and I arrived in her room, Natalie turned to me and asked,

"What do you think they want to talk about?"

I shrugged and replied, "I don't know but probably about what happened at the beach. That was pretty scary. I mean, it's one thing to see those dark signers on TV but seeing them in life. They're quite dangerous."

Natalie replied, "Yeah."

Then I looked at Natalie and asked, "By the way, how did those dark signers recognize Jack? I assume they attacked you because you were with him."

Natalie replied, "I have no idea. I thought that disguise would work but I did notice something. His arm-there was a red glow. Some kind of tattoo or something."

I realized what Natalie probably saw and replied, "Ahh the mark of the crimson dragon. One of its parts, anyway. This is weird, though. I mean, none of this should be happening. 5D's is just an anime so Yusei and Jack shouldn't exist along with those dark signers. Maybe something supernatural is at work here."

Natalie looked confused and replied, "I have no idea but I don't mind that Jack is here." She blushed immediately after she spoke and I could see that she had deep feelings for Jack but I decided not to tease her about them for now.

Natalie and I continued to talk for a while, as neither of us really wanted to be alone for the moment. Then we heard footsteps and we looked at the direction where they came from. Since Natalie's door was open, we could see that it was Jack. Jack looked at me and said,

"Yusei wants to see you." He then entered the room and sat in a chair next to Natalie. Seeing that it was my cue to leave, I went downstairs to the living room.

When I arrived, I saw Yusei pacing back and forth, deep in thought. I was about to open my mouth to speak when Yusei looked up at me and said,

"Hey, Callie. We need to talk."

Wondering what was going on, I took a seat on the sofa and Yusei took a seat next to me. He then looked at me and said,

"I need you to be honest with me, ok?"

I nodded, confused at what Yusei was referring to. Had he figured out that I was keeping certain information from him? I remained silent, waiting to hear what Yusei had to say next. He then continued,

"There's something that's confused me. How did you know that those men were dark signers? Jack and I never said that they were."

I realized that I had messed up, revealing that I did know more about dark signers, but I remained cool and kept a neutral expression on my face. Quickly thinking of an excuse, I replied,

"Oh yeah. It's not like I know them but I guessed. I mean, you and Jack mentioned earlier that you two were chased by dark signers, right? And then when I was trying to find Natalie in that fog, I heard Jack mention something about dark signers. I put two and two together and concluded that those men were dark signers. Makes sense, doesn't it?"

Yusei looked at me a little weirdly. For a moment, I thought that he wouldn't accept the excuse but nodding slowly, he replied, "I suppose that makes sense. I'm sorry for suspecting. I can't help but feel like you might know more about what's going on. Then again, you'd tell us, I'm sure."

I nodded and with a small smile, I replied, "Yup, that's right."

Yusei replied, "There's something else-."

However, Yusei didn't get a chance to finish his sentence, as I could hear Natalie scream, "Noes! You can't. I won't let you."

Immediately, I was worried about Natalie. Getting up, I was about to run upstairs to see what had happened when Yusei held my left arm and said, "Please sit. I know why Natalie's upset or I can guess. Let Jack handle it."

I nodded and took my seat. Then looking at Yusei, I replied, "Ok, spill. Why is Natalie upset?"

Yusei sighed and after taking a deep breath, he replied, "That's the other news I wanted to tell you. Jack and I talked things over and we're going to leave. Our duel runners aren't fixed yet but we'll think of something. We don't want you or Natalie in danger because of us."

I was shocked by the news and I could see why Natalie was upset. As much as I knew that the reasoning made sense, I felt the same way that Natalie did. I couldn't let Yusei leave. He had no idea of what the real world was like and there could be even more danger if he or Jack left. I sat there silently, not knowing what to say but trying to think of something to say at the same time.

Yusei looked at me with a little worry, probably because I hadn't spoken or reacted at all to the news. Touching my hand, he said, "Please say something."

I snapped out of my shock and looking at him, I did the first thing that came to my mind. I stood up and slapped him on the cheek, saying,

"Are you insane? Do you think that leaving will protect Natalie and me? Let me tell you something. First, Natalie and I can take care of ourselves or at least I can. You know that I was the one who saved Natalie earlier. We've had to do so in the past. It's not easy being two single women with guys wanting to hit on us. Two-if you and Jack leave, where will you go? And how are you going to bring your duel runners when they aren't even working yet? Don't you know that it's stupid to leave without thinking of a plan ahead? And three-if you're worried because of those dark signers, they haven't found this place yet so we're safe for now. If they do find us here, then we'll think of something."

I was out of breath from the mini lecture I had given Yusei and need to sit back down, which I did so. I was surprised at myself for slapping him. In my right mind, there was no way I would have done such a thing but at that moment, anger had overcome me and I did the first thing that came to mind. I looked over at Yusei and I thought he would be angry at me for slapping me but to my surprise, he wasn't. He was rubbing his cheek where I had slapped him and after I had finished talking, he looked down, silent for some minutes. Finally, Yusei looked back up at me and his eyes stared into my eyes. It looked as though he were searching for something in my eyes, like there was an answer to some unspoken question. Involuntarily, I blushed and Yusei realized that I was starting to feel a little uncomfortable so he said,

"No woman has ever stood up to me like that before." He looked at me, his eyes full of amazement and surprise.

I looked at him skeptically and replied, "Is that a good thing?"

He nodded and replied, "It's something new." I couldn't tell what Yusei was thinking but it looked as though he was a little intrigued by me and I wasn't quite sure what to make of it. He then continued,

"If you and Natalie believe that Jack and I should stay, then we will. You made some good points."

Just then, Jack walked down the stairs and Natalie followed him. Her face showed a happy, satisfied look. I guessed that she must have convinced Jack like I had persuaded Yusei.

Jack faced Yusei and said, "Yusei, we should stay. Natalie's convinced me that-."

Yusei interrupted Jack by saying, "I agree. It makes more sense to stay than to leave. I'll have our duel runners repaired and then we can figure out where to go from there."

Jack looked a little surprised that Yusei had agreed so quickly with him to stay and he glanced at me momentarily, wondering whether I had anything to do with Yusei's response. However, I kept a neutral expression on my face so Jack shrugged it off and replied,

"Ok then. Now I'm hungry. Who's going to get me food?"

Immediately, Natalie replied, "I'll go cook us something!"

I turned to Natalie and replied, "You should rest after that ordeal. I'll order pizza if that's ok with everyone."

Yusei nodded, indicating that he was ok with the idea, and Jack didn't protest, which I assumed meant that he was fine with the idea as well. So I picked up the nearest phone to call for pizza delivery. As everything had settled down and it looked like no more incidents would occur for now, I relaxed a little, hoping that things would get normal again or as normal as they could be, considering the circumstances.

 **Chapter 9**

A few days had passed since Yusei and Jack had entered my life and Natalie's and the incidents had happened. Surprisingly, things had been quiet since Natalie's attempted kidnapping. Although there was something on the news about the incident at the beach, there were no names mentioned and fortunately, there were no pictures of Yusei or Jack. It helped that there were no witnesses as well since practically everyone who had been at the beach that day had fled in fear when the dark signers and that fog appeared.

Natalie continued to show Jack around various places although she no longer made him wear that ridiculous outfit, seeing that it didn't do much good before. She did buy him some new clothes to help him blend in with the people better. However, after the weekend was over, Natalie had to go back to work so Jack would stay back at the house either drinking coffee or watching TV while Natalie was at the hospital. If I hadn't known better, there were times when I observed Jack that he would want Natalie to return to spend time together. There were indications around his eyes and mannerisms which seemed to indicate that he had taken a liking to her.

Meanwhile, I continued to help Yusei in the garage as he fixed his and Jack's duel runners. Of course, I had work as well but being a writer, my hours were quite flexible. I assisted Yusei however I could, whether it was handing him tools, ordering parts for him, or giving him lunch when he needed the break. When there were times that he didn't need my help, I would have my laptop in the garage and I would either continue writing a part of my upcoming book or would surf the Internet, checking for the latest news and so forth.

It was the afternoon and Yusei and I were in the garage as usual. I was on my laptop while Yusei continued to work on the duel runners. I could tell that Yusei had made a lot of progress repairing them and it made me happy that he did so although a part of me was sad. I knew that once the duel runners were fully repaired, Yusei and Jack would leave to return to their world and I didn't want that to happen. I wouldn't openly admit that but I had developed a bond with Yusei that I wanted to continue. However, asking him to stay would have been selfish of me and so I didn't. Also, I knew that Natalie would be heartbroken once Jack left but I told myself that I would have a chat with her before they left, making sure that she would be ok and explain that they needed to return to New Domino so things would be set right.

I took a break from typing on my laptop and stretched out my arms. I noticed that Yusei had decided to take a break as well so I got up from my chair and walked over to him, asking,

"How's progress?"

Yusei looked at me and wiping the sweat from his forehead, he replied, "It's going pretty well. I'll have both duel runners fixed soon but there's a problem."

I looked at Yusei confused and was about to ask what the problem was when he continued,

"After I get Jack's and my duel runners fixed, there's the matter of how to get back to New Domino. We still have no idea how we got here."

I nodded, agreeing with Yusei that it was a problem indeed. I was silent for a few minutes, thinking of an idea. Then one came to me and I replied,

"I know. This isn't the usual run-of-the-mill type problem, right? I usually find that if I'm looking for information, I go to the nearest library. Sure, there's the Internet and all but you don't know which information is reliable and which is bogus. But the library has a lot of books and special collections might have some information that could help."

Yusei pondered over the idea for a minute and then replied, "Sounds good. I don't have another idea right now so we'll go with it. After I finish all the repairs, we'll go to the library and check out some books and maybe some articles for any information."

I smiled softly and replied, "Yup. No worries. I want you and Jack to get home safely."

I kept a smile on my face although inside, I was a little saddened over the thought of Yusei and Jack leaving. Yusei looked at me and it seemed almost as though he knew what I was thinking. Just as he was about to say something, my cell phone rang. Picking it up, I looked at Yusei and said,

"I'll go take this."

Yusei nodded and then I picked up the phone, saying, "Hello?"

On the other end of the line was Mac and he replied, "Hello, Ms. Callie. How are you? I called you to remind you of that party you're attending tonight."

I was confused, as I had previously told Mac that I wasn't planning on attending the party tonight. I replied hesitatingly,

"Umm what are you talking about, Mac? I told you before that I wasn't going to the party. You know how these things end up. You or Natalie set me up on some blind date, the guy usually turns out to be a jerk so I punch his lights out, and then I leave angry. I'm not going to be set up for that again."

Mac replied, "I know but it'll be different this time. Natalie found you the perfect date and she said that you're attending so I'll have a limo pick you up at eight. Bye!"

He then hung up before I could reply. Confused at what happened, I hung up and then dialed Natalie's cell phone number, hoping to get some answers. After a few rings, Natalie picked up and said,

"Hello?"

I replied with a little annoyance in my voice, "Natalie, did you tell Mac that I'm attending that party tonight? I thought I told you as well that I didn't want to go. I don't care about increasing my fame or any of that nonsense-."

However, Natalie interrupted me by saying, "I know but trust me this time, Callie. It'll be different-I swear. I found _the_ perfect guy so there's no way this night will be ruined. And if it is, you can punish me later at home, ok?"

I sighed and replied, "All right. I suppose there's always hope. But where am I going to find a dress at this time? You have my car and I have no time to go shopping."

Natalie replied happily, "I already thought about that. Yusei, Jack, and I went shopping the other day. You remember-you wanted to stay behind and work on your book in quiet that day. Anyhow, we each took the liberty of picking a dress for you. They're in the closet. You can choose which one you want to wear."

I replied, "All right. I guess I'll go but if this night turns out to be a disaster, I swear-."

Natalie cut me off by saying, "Stop worrying. You are so going to love this guy. I'll be there as well. Mac invited me so I'm picking up Jack after work and then we'll get ready and go. Mac is arranging a ride for you, right?"

I replied, "Yup but, Natalie, who _is_ my date for-?"

However, the line went dead before I even had a chance to finish my question. Staring at the phone in annoyance, I said, "Geez, the things people do behind my back."

I heard a chuckle behind me and quickly turning around, I saw Yusei and he had a glint of amusement in his eyes. I blushed in embarrassment, having realized that he had listened to both conversations. After a moment, I said,

"You heard the whole thing, huh?"

Yusei nodded and replied, "Yeah. Natalie told me a little about this party and she really wants you to go. She said something that Mac wouldn't allow her to attend if you weren't there or something like that."

I rolled my eyes and replied, "Figures." Then I looked at the time and realizing that it was getting a little late and that I should get ready for the party, I said,

"I should hurry and get ready for this party. Umm, Yusei, do you know who my date is going to be?"

Yusei nodded and had this secretive smile on his face. He replied, "Yup but I'm not supposed to tell you. Natalie instructed me not to reveal one word to you until you're ready."

I looked at Yusei with a little annoyance in my eyes and replied, "Not you, too. Guess I'd better get ready so I can find out who this mystery date is."

Then I went upstairs to my room to get ready for tonight. I decided to take a quick shower and after doing so and drying off, I quickly dried my hair with the hair dryer. Then I proceeded to arrange my hair. I arranged my hair in soft curls so that my hair would look wavy and not too curly. It flowed down my back beautifully. Then I put on my makeup. I put on a little, as I usually went for a natural look.

After putting on my makeup, I walked over to the closet to see the dresses picked out for me. They were all beautiful so it was a little difficult to choose. The first one was a simple but elegant white dress that was sleeveless. The second one was a stunning lavender with a long train in the back. However, the third one caught my eyes. It was a royal blue dress that looked like something a princess would wear. It had a matching shawl and there was a train on the dress as well although it wasn't as long as the second one. I decided to wear the royal blue dress and changed into it. Although I didn't usually put on accessories every day, I decided to wear a little this time. I chose a pair of simple heart-shaped diamond earrings and a pearl necklace. I had a pair of white long gloves as well so I wore those.

Once I was finished getting dressed, I looked at myself in the mirror and was a little amazed at how beautiful I looked. I didn't usually regard myself as beautiful but this was an exception. I found a small light blue purse and put my phone as well as my wallet in it. Then I was finally ready and all I had to do was wait for my date to arrive.

I didn't have to wait long as Yusei called up to me,

"Callie, your date's here."

I was confused as I hadn't heard the doorbell ring to indicate that my date had arrived. However, not wanting to be late, I left my room and went downstairs. At the foot of the stairs, the mystery of my date had been solved. I was surprised but happy at the same time when I found out who he was and thought to myself,

 _Maybe this night won't be so bad after all._

 **Chapter 10**

Seeing Yusei waiting for me downstairs looking as handsome as ever, I was more excited about tonight. Before, I wasn't looking forward to the party mainly because I didn't like to attend these kinds of events but a part of me didn't want to leave Yusei alone. However, it never occurred to me that he could be my date for tonight and I wondered how this all happened.

I smiled softly and felt a slight blush to my cheeks as I saw Yusei in a black tux waiting for me. I stared into his eyes for a few moments and he looked as happy as I was. I walked down the stairs, doing my best to act as cool as possible about the situation. When I reached the foot of the stairs, Yusei looked at me and said,

"You look beautiful, Callie."

I looked down at my feet, shyness suddenly overcoming me. I replied quietly, "Thank you, Yusei. So, umm, I take it that you're my date for tonight?"

Yusei nodded and replied, "Yup. I'm the lucky guy who'll be escorting you."

I heard a car pull up just then and looking out the window, I saw that there was a black stretch limousine. I turned back to Yusei and replied, "That must be our ride. We should get going."

I headed towards the front door when Yusei beat me to it. He opened it and said, "I should be the gentleman tonight although I know you can open a door on your own."

The latter part of his comment made me laugh and I simply nodded. So I went outside first and waited for Yusei to follow. Then I locked the front door and made sure that the house was secure. Yusei and I then walked to the limo and the driver opened the door for us. I went inside first and Yusei followed me. Then the driver closed the door and headed back to his seat, driving away towards where the party was to be held.

As we headed towards the party, I wondered how Yusei got to be my date for tonight. Then I remembered the conversation with Natalie and how she said that she found the perfect guy for me. She knew that I liked Yusei a lot so it did make sense that Natalie would have asked Yusei to be my date. I doubted that he would have volunteered of his own accord. Looking down, I tried to hide the sudden sadness in my eyes over the thought. I felt stupid for not having realized it sooner.

Yusei must have seen the quick change in my expression, for he touched my right hand and asked,

"What's wrong?"

I looked back into Yusei's eyes and quickly changed my expression into a happy one although it probably looked fake. Shaking my head, I replied, "It's nothing. I'm fine. I'm sorry that Natalie went through the trouble of asking you to be my date when I know you have more important things to do-."

However, Yusei interrupted me by saying, "Natalie didn't ask me to be your date. I wanted to escort you tonight."

I looked confused and Yusei noticed my expression so he continued by saying,

"Natalie did talk to Jack and me the other day about this party and she asked Jack to be her date. Knowing Jack, I knew he wouldn't turn down such an offer. Natalie was going to call one of her friends to be your date but I stopped her. I told her that I'd take you."

I felt a little better as Yusei explained that he had wanted to take me although I couldn't understand why. I replied, "Really? But why did you want to take me?"

Yusei coughed slightly and turning his head to the side, he replied, "I didn't want another guy to take you."

I was confused still and Yusei's answers were only making me more confused. I was about to ask him why he didn't want another guy to take me when I could see that he was averting my gaze. I couldn't be certain but it did seem as though Yusei felt uncomfortable or perhaps embarrassed to talk about this matter so I let it drop. Instead, I changed the subject slightly by asking,

"So whose dress did I end up choosing in the end? Natalie told me that you, Jack, and she each chose one for me. It was difficult to decide."

Yusei gave me a smile that I easily recognized. It was one of pure happiness and relieved that the subject had been changed, he replied,

"You chose the one I picked. I was surprised that you did."

I replied, "But why? They were all beautiful, true, but this one really caught my attention. It fits me and my personality wonderfully."

Yusei replied happily, "Then I'm glad you chose it but I'm sure you'd look beautiful in anything."

I blushed as I heard Yusei's latter comment and didn't know what to say. Fortunately, we had arrived at a huge stately mansion where the party was being held. The driver had stopped and opened the door. Yusei got out first and then he helped me out. I held his arm and together, we walked through the front door and after giving my name to one of the security guards, we entered through this big foyer. There, my shawl and purse were taken and then we headed to a large ballroom where the other guests of the party were.

Once we arrived, I looked around for any signs of Natalie, Jack, or Mac but the ballroom was very crowded so it was difficult to see anyone I recognized. I was about to lead the way further into the room to see if I could find any of them when I suddenly felt myself being pulled away from Yusei. When I looked back, I realized what had happened and it annoyed me. Several rather ambitious young women had seen Yusei when he entered with me in the ballroom and wanted him to pay attention to them so I was pulled away from his side. I felt annoyed although I did my best not to betray that emotion. I looked where Yusei was and I could see that he was doing his best to talk to the women and be polite. It didn't surprise me since I knew that Yusei was a gentleman and wouldn't be rude to anyone unless he had no choice.

Not knowing what to do, I suddenly felt a tap on my shoulder. Quickly, I turned around and saw Natalie and Jack. I was happy to at least see a couple of familiar faces and said,

"I'm sure glad to see you. I was trying to look for you two and for Mac as well but this room is awfully crowded."

Natalie nodded and replied, "Definitely. What do you think of my dress?" Natalie had worn a beautiful white dress with purple lining. It was elegant and stood out at the same time. I thought it definitely fit her, considering that her date was Jack.

I replied, "You look perfect. It suits you."

Jack quickly looked at me and with a slight scoff, he said, "I shouldn't have bothered to help you out."

Annoyed, I replied, "What do you mean by that?"

Natalie quickly cut in and replied, "I think Jack is referring to your dress. You chose the one that Yusei picked out for you."

I nodded and replied, "Yeah, I did but they were all beautiful. It was difficult to choose."

Jack scoffed and replied, "Yeah, right. I told Natalie that we should have let Yusei choose. You would wear anything he liked."

I got defensive and replied, "I didn't know Yusei chose this one until he told me. And besides, I chose this dress because it suited my personality the best."

Natalie looked between Jack and me and she could see that things were getting a little tense so she tried to change the subject by asking,

"Umm where's Yusei?"

I looked in the direction where Yusei was and he was still hounded by those same young women. I replied, "He's busy at the moment, it appears."

Jack replied, "Now that doesn't make sense. I'm Jack Atlas and the women should be flocking to me."

I rolled my eyes while Natalie giggled lightly. Natalie replied, "The same thing happened when we arrived but I quickly made it known that Jack's my date for tonight."

I looked over at Jack and I noticed that he blushed slightly and didn't say anything. Natalie then continued,

"You should do the same. Take Yusei away from those women. He's your date, after all."

I looked down and replied, "It would be rude of me to do so and it doesn't seem that Yusei's bothered by the attention. Anyway, I'm here and that's all that matters to Mac, right? Speaking of him, I should go find him. You two have a good time."

I gave Natalie and Jack a quick smile and then went to find Mac. It took me a while but I finally found Mac. I gave him a nod to acknowledge that I was at the party and Mac nodded back. It looked like he was busy talking to some important people so I decided to go outside for a while to get some air unaware that a pair of blue eyes had followed me.

Once I was outside, I took in a deep breath, relieved to be away from the crowds of people. I took a look at my surroundings and noticed that I was near a gazebo that was dimly lit. I looked up at the night sky and there were so many stars and the moon was shining at its brightest. I closed my eyes and as I felt myself at ease, I began to sing.

 _In this quiet night_

 _I'm waiting for you_

 _Forgetting the past_

 _And dreaming of you_

 _Time passes by_

 _And memories fade_

 _But time can't erase_

 _The love that we've made_

 _And the stars in the sky_

 _That I wish upon can't bring you back to my side_

 _Though you're not here with me_

 _I dream of the day we'll meet again_

 _Hold me close, So deep in your heart_

 _I will find you, no matter where I have to go_

 _And dream of me, for I will be there_

 _Follow the stars that lead_

 _Into the quiet night_

I continued to sing the rest of the lyrics, feeling happy and carefree. I loved this song _Quiet Night_ and although I knew that it was sung by a fictional character, it felt very real and the lyrics felt close to my heart.

Once I was done, I was surprised to hear clapping. Quickly, I turned around and saw that Yusei was standing before me. I averted my gaze and asked,

"How long have you been standing there?"

Yusei looked at me although he had this unreadable expression. He replied, "I followed you when I saw that you went outside. That was beautiful-what you sang just now. Did you write the song?"

I blushed and shaking my head, I replied, "No, I heard this song on TV a few times. It is beautiful and I like singing it to myself. You're the first to ever hear me sing, though."

Yusei looked a little surprised and replied, "Really? You have a beautiful voice. You should sing more often."

I gave a small smile and replied, "Thanks. So, umm, why did you follow me? Is there something you wanted?"

Yusei looked confused and replied, "No but I was a little worried. I saw that you had left the party and came here by yourself. You shouldn't be alone."

I felt a little offended at Yusei's comment about being alone and replied, "You think I can't take care of myself? I'm a big girl, after all. And you looked like you were plenty busy back there and didn't need me."

I know I sounded a little jealous although I tried not to be. I didn't want to be one of those petty women who got upset every time a man has his attention to other women. However, Yusei could see that I was a little jealous and gently, he approached me and put his hands on my shoulders. He then looked into my eyes and said,

"Those women mean nothing to me. You know that, right?"

I sighed and replied, "I know. I'm sorry I snapped like that. It's not your fault."

Then I heard in the background a song being performed. It was quite a romantic song and although it was a quick peek, I saw Natalie and Jack dancing together and having a wonderful time. I thought to myself,

 _It looks like they're having more fun than I am._

Yusei spun me around until we were face to face. He looked at me and bowing in a gentleman-like manner, he said,

"Allow me the honor of this dance. Let's make up for before."

I nodded and replied, "Ok but I have to give you advance warning. I'm a terrible dancer. That's part of the reason I don't like these events."

Yusei chuckled and replied, "All right but I still want to dance with you and _only you_." Those last two words were said so meaningfully that I knew a blush was on my cheeks. Yusei took that as a sign and holding me in his arms, we began to dance to the music.

Together, I felt myself happy and at ease as I danced with Yusei. I had forgotten about those other women who had grabbed his attention before and even forgotten about how Yusei was supposed to be with Akiza back in New Domino. Tonight, it was about the two of us and as I danced with Yusei and looked into his eyes, I felt myself falling deeper for him. I wasn't sure how he felt about me but I could see that Yusei had feelings for me, too, although I wasn't sure what to make of them yet.

After the song ended, Yusei and I stopped. We looked into each other's eyes and I didn't know what was going to happen. I saw that Yusei was approaching me and holding me closer to him and I could only guess at what was going to happen next. I closed my eyes, hoping, anticipating for what I had only previously dreamed could happen. However, suddenly, there was a commotion coming from the direction of the party and Yusei and I quickly turned our eyes towards the ballroom to find out what had happened.

 **Chapter 11**

Hearing the commotion coming from the direction of the ballroom, I immediately wanted to run there to see what had happened. However, as I was about to do so, Yusei held my left arm and said,

"Callie, stay here. I'll go check it out and be right back."

I shook my head and replied, "I can take care of myself and help if-."

Yusei interrupted me by saying, "Please. I don't want anything to happen to you and I'll feel better if I know you're not near any danger."

I was about to protest again when I looked into Yusei's eyes. His eyes were pleading with mine to do as he asked and I couldn't find it in my heart to refuse him. Nodding, I replied,

"All right. But come back here if I can help, ok?"

Yusei nodded and replied, "I'll be right back." He then hurried towards the ballroom to see what had happened.

After Yusei left, I sighed and paced a little, hoping that Yusei or someone, anyone, would come and tell me what was going on. I waited for a few minutes and although I did tell Yusei that I would stay put, I felt a little anxious to the point that I no longer wanted to do so and didn't care if Yusei got annoyed at me later for doing so. As I was about to head towards the ballroom, though, I felt myself suddenly being grabbed from behind and before I knew it, someone had knocked me on the head, forcing me into an unconscious state.

Slowly, I regained consciousness and opening my eyes, I focused them on my surroundings, trying to find out where I was. I had no idea where I was but I knew that I was definitely not anywhere near the party. My surroundings were dark and I felt the floor which was made of cold marble. I tried to get up but in attempting to do so, I realized that my left ankle had been sprained. I didn't remember running and injuring it. Then I rubbed the back of my head, which still felt sore from being knocked out earlier. Trying to get my bearings, I looked around still to see if there was any sort of exit to leave or to return to familiar surroundings. All of a sudden, I felt a creepy presence approach me from being. I turned around and shouted,

"Who are you? What do you want with me?"

The creepy presence made itself known and I didn't recognize the man although I was familiar with his clothing. It was one of the robes that the dark signers wore. The man approached me until he was within my personal space and replied,

"No need for names, Callie. Yes, I know who you are and I've come to you with an offer."

I looked back at the man with hate and replied, "What offer? I won't agree to whatever it is you want and even if I wanted to, knocking me out on the head wasn't going to win you any points."

The man laughed and replied, "That was to make sure that no one would intervene but to the point. I know you've been helping Yusei and Jack to return to New Domino but I can't let that happen. They must not return."

I crossed my arms over my chest and replied, "Is it because you already know they'd kick your butt? I mean, everyone knows that Yusei and Jack are the heroes and they win."

The man replied, "They'll ruin everything. The plan in action must succeed and having Yusei and Jack out of the way is part of it. But you're helping them. Now I could simply kill you and then they won't be able to return to New Domino but I'm going to spare your life if you agree to my proposal."

I felt annoyed at this guy and the attitude he was giving me but I was a little curious to hear what his proposal was although I had already resolved myself to not agree to it. Nodding, I replied, "Ok, out with it. Just to humor you, what is this proposal?"

The man replied, "I know you care deeply for Yusei. I would even dare to say that you're in love with him."

I was shocked and immediately replied, "I'm not in lo-."

The man interrupted me by saying, "Of course, you'd say that now but I'm sure that before all this is over, you'll admit that you love the man. But here's what I'm proposing. Persuade Yusei and Jack to stay. Tell them that others can save New Domino. You'd like that, wouldn't you? You'd finally have Yusei and stop getting pressure to find a man and get married and Natalie would be quite happy to be with Jack."

I was surprised at how much this man knew but annoyed at the same time by how much he was speculating. However, before I could reply, the man continued,

"This offer won't last. I'd agree to it if I were you. A much better option than eliminating you."

After the man had finished making his proposal, I did think it over for a couple of minutes. My life was in danger and agreeing to his proposal would ensure that I would be alive. However, then I thought about Yusei and Jack, especially about Yusei. Yusei would always do the right thing even if that meant putting his life on the line. It was one of the traits that I admired about him and I knew that if Yusei were in my place right now, he wouldn't agree to the idea.

Finally, staring straight into the dark signer's eyes, I replied, "The answer is no. Yusei and Jack are needed to save New Domino and I will continue to help them any way I can. So do what you want with me."

The dark signer looked highly annoyed as I refused his offer. Shaking his head, he replied, "Stubborn girl. You should have agreed and now I'm going to have to kill you."

I closed my eyes, bracing myself for what was about to happen when I heard a faint sound in the distance. Although I couldn't make out all the words, I recognized one voice. It was Yusei and he was calling out for me. The dark signer backed away from me as he had heard Yusei's voice as well and replied,

"Looks like you got lucky. Better to eliminate the main threat first."

The dark signer then ran off in the direction of Yusei's voice and I knew that Yusei was in danger. I tried to follow the dark signer to warn Yusei but as my left ankle was sprained, I was only able to limp and there was no way that I would reach him in time. I was about to lose hope but then I saw before my eyes, the crimson dragon appearing before me. I had to blink my eyes a couple of times before believing that the creature in front of me was real but indeed, it was the crimson dragon.

Deciding to take a leap of faith and believe that it was the crimson dragon, I asked,

"Are you the crimson dragon? I know about you. What are you doing here?"

The crimson dragon nodded its head slightly although it didn't reply. It made a gesture for me to get on its back and I was skeptical for a moment, wondering whether that was actually possible. However, since I decided to believe what I was seeing, I slowly made my way and climbed behind the dragon's back and found that I was able to hang on. The crimson dragon then flew through the air towards where the dark signer had gone. Together, we were leaving the dark prison I had been in and slowly, I was seeing a dim light. The crimson dragon approached the light and then we found ourselves back outside near the gazebo which was a little bit away from the party in the ballroom.

I looked around but I didn't see any signs of Yusei although I heard voices nearby. I couldn't make out the words but I could tell that the voices belonged to Yusei and the dark signer who had talked to me. I heard a couple of additional voices as well and I recognized them as belonging to Natalie and Jack. I got off the crimson dragon's back and looking at the dragon, I said,

"Thank you for helping me. I'll do everything I can to help Yusei and Jack. I promise."

The crimson dragon nodded its head and left me, heading upwards to the sky and soon disappearing out of view. Limping, I decided to head towards the voices to see what was going on and to let everyone know that I was ok. Within a few minutes and after much walking, I reached the spot where Yusei, the dark signer, Natalie, and Jack were. I could see Yusei and the dark signer in some sort of face off and Yusei looked annoyed. I could hear his voice as he asked,

"Where is she? You'd better not have laid one hand on her or else-."

The dark signer scoffed and replied, "Or else what? You'll kill me? I know you won't do that. It's not in your nature. And you won't ever find your precious Callie. I hid her where you'll never find-."

Suddenly, the dark signer stopped speaking and looked in my direction. He had spotted me and I looked back at him and smirked, saying,

"Surprised to see me, moron? Such poor security you have."

The dark signer looked highly annoyed and asked, "How did you escape? I'll get you next time." He then ran away from the others but there was no way anyone could pursue him, as he soon seemed to disappear and no trace of him could be seen.

After the dark signer was gone, Yusei ran towards me and Natalie and Jack were just behind him. Yusei was the first to get to me and hugging me tightly, he asked,

"Are you all right? Are you hurt?"

I smiled faintly at Yusei and replied, "I'm fine. Just a sprained ankle and my head's going to throb for a while but otherwise, fine. That dark signer had nothing on me…"

As I tried to say more, I suddenly felt myself become dizzy from all the excitement and unconsciousness took over, as the last I heard was Yusei's voice calling out my name.

 **Chapter 12**

"Callie, Callie! Please wake up. Please…"

"Callie, don't die on us!"

I groaned slightly as I heard voices calling out for me. Slowly, I opened my eyes and there were Yusei and Natalie staring at me. Natalie looked totally panicked while Yusei looked worried. It was unusual to see Yusei like that, as I knew that he wasn't one to display his feelings openly. I found myself able to sit up and after doing so, I looked at the two of them and asked,

"What happened?"

Natalie replied, "You passed out. I thought you were going to die." Natalie looked panicked still despite that I was awake and feeling a little better than a little while ago.

Yusei held me up and asked, "Are you ok now?" He looked a little relieved, seeing that I was at least awake again.

I nodded and replied, "Yeah, I'm fine. I probably just fainted from all the excitement or something." I looked around and noticed that Jack wasn't around. I turned to Yusei and asked, "Where's Jack?"

Yusei replied, "Jack ran back to the ballroom to find a doctor."

Natalie added, "We talked to some of the guests earlier and one of them mentioned that he was a doctor so Jack's getting him."

Just then, I heard footsteps and turning my head towards the sound, I saw Jack and a man running towards me. As soon as they reached me, Jack pointed to me and turning to the man, he said,

"Yeah, that's her."

The man nodded and approaching me, he said, "I'm Dr. Richardson. Your friend told me that you had fainted so I came to see if I could help."

I raised an eyebrow as Dr. Richardson called Jack my friend but not wanting to get into an argument about that, instead, I replied, "Thank you for coming. I'm ok, though. My head hurts a little and I think my left ankle's sprained but other than that, I'm totally fine."

Dr. Richardson replied, "I see. Well, let's have you checked out." He then proceeded to check my head and then my left ankle, gently lifting it and such. After he was done with the examination, he looked at me and said,

"You'll be fine. Did you have a concussion earlier?"

I nodded and replied, "Yeah. Some idiot knocked me out and my head's hurting."

Dr. Richardson replied, "I see. Your head's not too bad, all things considered. As for your ankle, you're lucky that it's not worse. It is a sprain but at least it's not fractured. You should stay off of it for a few days and it should heal on its own. It's best to not move around at all but if you need to, you should get some crutches."

I replied, "Thank you, doctor. I will do that."

Dr. Richardson got up and replied, "If that's all, please excuse me." He then left us and returned to the other guests in the ballroom.

Natalie turned to me and said, "Thank goodness it's not worse. What would I have done if I'd lost my best friend?" She hugged me tightly and looked like she was about to cry.

I laughed quietly and replied, "Hey, it takes more than some idiot to take me down. You should know that by now. Anyway, what happened back there? I missed out on all the excitement there, it seems."

Yusei looked at me and replied, "There wasn't any real danger. It was all a distraction. You were the target."

I sighed and replied, "Go figure. But that idiot totally underestimated me."

Natalie had let go of me and I tried to get up, only to find myself back on the ground. Feeling a little annoyed, I said, "It looks like I'm going to have to go home for the night." I turned to Natalie and asked,

"Can you let Mac know and ask him to get a taxi for me? And get my things as well? No one else should have this night spoiled because of me."

Natalie replied, "I can do that but we should go with you. You shouldn't go home by yourself."

I smiled softly at Natalie and replied, "Nah, don't worry about me. I'll be fine getting home as long as I have a ride and then I'll rest like the doctor said."

Yusei approached me and lifted me in his arms and as he did so, he said, "I'm going to take you back. You're in no condition to walk by yourself."

I looked at Yusei, feeling a little annoyed at him but more so at myself for feeling helpless. I replied, "I'm fine. I can get home by myself. I don't need any help."

Natalie had this mischievous look in her eyes and I could tell that she was up to no good. Natalie replied, "But Yusei's right, Callie. Jack and I will stay if you insist. We can make excuses for you leaving early but Yusei should take you back and I'd feel better if I knew you were getting home safely."

Inwardly, I sighed, seeing that I wasn't going to win this argument. I glanced at Jack but I knew he wasn't going to defend me so I replied reluctantly, "Fine. I'm too tired to argue anyway."

Natalie went to Jack and said to me, "I'll go find Mac and let him know what happened so he can get you a ride. I'll get your things as well." Then she and Jack went to the ballroom to find Mac.

Once Yusei and I were alone, Yusei looked at me and gently said, "I'm glad you're ok. Now I'll take it easy and carry you so you won't have to put weight on that ankle."

I looked at Yusei and replied, "You don't need to carry me. It's really unnecessary. I was able to walk up to you all earlier although I was limping. I can do that again."

Yusei shook his head and with a small smile, he replied, "You heard what Dr. Richardson said. No weight on that ankle and carrying you will make sure that his orders are being followed."

I didn't reply and stayed quiet as Yusei carried me in his arms and he headed towards the front entrance of the mansion. He walked around it to avoid the guests. Although I felt embarrassed being helped like so, it did feel nice at the same time and a little romantic in a way.

Once we reached the front entrance, Natalie and Jack ran to us and Natalie handed me my purse and shawl, saying, "I talked to Mac and he said that he's ordering his limo to take you two back. He insisted. I think he feels a little guilty for getting you to come to this party in the first place."

I laughed quietly and jokingly replied, "He should. And you should, too, you know. Both of you knew I didn't want to go in the first place."

Natalie replied, "I know and I'm sorry. I promise I'll make it up to you."

I smiled at her and replied, "It's ok. I was kidding. It could have been worse."

Natalie looked a little surprised that I wasn't as annoyed about how things turned out but seeing me and then Yusei, it looked like she figured out why and nodding, she replied with a slight smirk, "I see. Well, the limo should be here any minute and I'll see you home later." She winked at me and holding Jack by the arm, she and Jack returned inside.

Yusei and I waited for the limo to arrive and after a few minutes, it did. The driver got out of his seat, opened the door for us and then Yusei helped me inside. After the driver closed the door, he returned to his seat and started the limo, heading away from the mansion and on the road towards the house.

 **Chapter 13**

Yusei and I sat in the backseat of the limousine as the driver continued to take the road towards my house. It was a little too quiet and I was surprised that Yusei wasn't interrogating me with questions about what happened. Deciding to break the silence, I remarked,

"Umm, I'm still in your lap. You can put me beside you. It's not like I can run away or anything even if I wanted to."

Yusei looked at me and his eyes twinkled. His lips curved into a small, amused smile and without saying a word, he put me in the seat next to him. However, he still didn't say anything and it worried me a little. I wondered what he was thinking and so I asked,

"Yusei, are you angry at me?"

Yusei shook his head and finally replied, "Of course not but I was very worried about you. I shouldn't have left you alone." He hung his head down and I realized what he was probably feeling. Smiling softly at him, I replied,

"It's not your fault, ok? You were trying to protect me but we had no idea that one of those dark signers was going to take me."

Yusei was quiet still and I continued, "Don't blame yourself. I'm all right and I got away from that dark signer. I'm much tougher than I look, you know."

He smiled at me and replied, "That's true. You're one remarkable woman, Callie."

The driver stopped the limo and we had finally arrived back at the house. The driver opened the backseat door and Yusei carried me in his arms, lifting me out of the limo. Once we were outside, I looked at the driver and said,

"Thank you for taking us back."

The driver smiled at me and replied, "You're welcome. I hope you feel better soon." He then went back to his seat and drove off, leaving Yusei and me alone.

I opened my purse and looked around for the keys which I soon found. Yusei took me to the front door and after I unlocked it, we went inside and Yusei closed the door behind us. Then I looked up at him and said,

"You can put me down now. I'll be fine going upstairs by myself."

However, Yusei shook his head and replied, "I'll carry you back to your room and then get an ice pack for your head and that ankle. Then we need to talk."

Inwardly, I sighed, thinking that I should have been prepared for this. Yusei did want to talk about what happened to me but he was waiting for the right time to do so. I nodded but didn't say anything. He took me upstairs and to my room and then placed me carefully on my bed. As Yusei was about to leave to go get the ice pack, he turned to me and said,

"Now don't run off, ok?"

He gave a small smile, intending for the question to be more of a joke than a serious one. I laughed quietly and replied, "Ok. But I'll get changed while you prepare the ice pack for me. I won't run away, all right?"

Yusei nodded and with the smile on his face, he went downstairs to prepare an ice pack for me.

Meanwhile, I got up from the bed and limped over to my mirror to take off my jewelry. Then I went to the closet to change into some more comfortable clothes and then went to my bathroom to change out of my dress and into my more casual clothes. It took more effort than usual since I was struggling with a sprained ankle and I was being careful not to make it worse than it already was. Eventually, I was finished and then I left the bathroom, going to my closet to put away my dress. Then I limped back to the bed, lying on top of the covers and waiting for Yusei to return. I didn't have to wait long, though, as Yusei returned after a couple of minutes. He was carrying two ice packs and he placed one gently on my left ankle while he put the other one behind my head, saying,

"There, that should do it."

I smiled softly at him and replied, "Thanks, Yusei. I'm sure I'll be better in no time. Injuries don't faze me."

Yusei gave me a small smile and after a minute of silence, he asked, "Callie, what happened? What did that dark signer do to you?"

I looked into Yusei's eyes and I saw how worried he was about me. Giving a small laugh, I replied, "Aww I'm fine, Yusei, really. Nothing happened to me."

Yusei gave a slight frown and replied, "I don't believe that for a minute. That dark signer wanted you for a reason and I want to know what it is."

I knew that I wasn't going to be able to convince Yusei to drop the subject so I replied, "First tell me what happened back there in the ballroom and then I'll tell you what happened."

Yusei nodded and then he proceeded to tell me about how there was commotion in the ballroom. A small group of dark signers had appeared out of nowhere and had threatened the guests. There was a hostage with them, Crow Hogan, a close friend of Yusei and Jack. However, it turned out that the dark signers didn't really have Crow but rather a dark signer disguised as him. Then one of the dark signers received a communication from my kidnapper saying that I had been taken and the fake Crow and other dark signers disappeared.

After Yusei had finished, he looked to me and said, "Ok, I told you what happened. Now tell me what happened to you."

I nodded and began to tell Yusei about how I was knocked out from behind while waiting for him. Then I told him about waking up with the dark signer who tried to make a deal with me although I left out the details about him saying that I was in love with Yusei. Then I explained how I had escaped and how the crimson dragon, although I described it rather than called it by name, had helped me.

Once I was done, Yusei sighed and replied, "I'm glad you're all right and it sounds like the crimson dragon knows you're trying to help Jack and me. He wouldn't have done so otherwise. But there's something I don't understand."

I looked confused but before I could reply, Yusei continued,

"Callie, why didn't you take that deal? You could have died back there."

I looked into Yusei's eyes and replied, "I would never have taken that deal. I care about you and I want to help you in any way I can. That dark signer-and I suspect the others, too-doesn't want either of you to go back to New Domino. No surprise as to why. And I'll do everything I can to help even if it takes my life."

Yusei's eyes became one of worry and approaching me closer, he replied, "But don't you understand? It's not worth risking your life to help us. That's why Jack and I were going to move out. We didn't want you or Natalie to get hurt and now both of you have been in danger because of us."

I replied, "I'm sure that Natalie would say what I'm about to say but we would have done this all over again. If we could go back to that night where we found you two unconscious, we still would have taken you both in and helped. There will always be danger out there, Yusei. It can't be avoided but it's still in my nature to help out a good soul when I see one."

Yusei reached out to touch my hand and replied, "Please be careful." Then he reached out to touch my left cheek and I felt myself blush under his touch. I averted my gaze from his eyes and then he moved his hand away from me. I felt a little sad, as I missed the brief but caring contact.

There were a few minutes of silence between us, as neither of us knew what to say now that we had told each other what had happened. However, the silence was eventually broken when I spoke up and said,

"It's getting late and you should head on to bed. I'll be ok here."

Yusei shook his head and replied, "No way. I'm staying by your side tonight." I was about to protest when he continued,

"You did that for me, remember?"

I smirked at him and replied, "So you're paying me back, huh?"

Yusei replied, "In a way. It's too bad that our night was interrupted."

I sighed sadly and replied, "That's true. That idiot ruined it and I'm sorry that you had to leave the party early because of me."

Yusei replied, "It's ok and there's nowhere else I'd rather be than by your side. Our moment was interrupted but I believe that we'll have another one once everything calms down."

I looked confused, wondering what Yusei meant by "our moment" but he then said, "Now get some sleep."

I smiled and replied, "All right. Good night, Yusei." I closed my eyes although I hadn't fallen into a deep sleep yet. However, I could hear Yusei reply softly, thinking that I was probably in deep sleep,

"Good night, my Callie."

Then I felt a brief but soft kiss on lips before I fell into a deep sleep.

 **Chapter 14**

A few days had passed after the night of the party and the incident with the dark signer. During that time, I took it easy, wanting for my ankle to heal from the sprain. Yusei would stay by my side, making sure that I was all right, although I kept insisting that I would be fine by myself. He did still work on the duel runners although he divided his time between them and me.

In my moments of solitude, I would think back on that night when the dark signer made the deal and accused me of being in love with Yusei. I denied it at the time but in the back of my mind, I questioned myself and wondered whether he was correct. Could I be falling for Yusei and simply be denying it? If this was the case, then there was definitely danger for everyone involved. I would be changing the events of Yusei's life since technically, I wasn't supposed to have ever entered it in the first place. I remembered the good night kiss from a few nights ago and it still brought a blush to my cheeks whenever I thought about it. Furthermore, if Yusei were falling for me-and I had to admit to myself that it might be a possibility-then he would become more vulnerable. What if another incident happened where I was taken and enemies were using me as a weakness to get to Yusei? Although I couldn't say for certain that I was in love with him, I did care greatly for Yusei and couldn't let him get hurt because of me.

With such thoughts weighing heavily on my mind, I had to figure out what to do. I could continue helping Yusei like I did before and pretend that nothing had changed but then I would be lying to myself. Things have changed and couldn't go back to how they were before. I didn't want Yusei to be in any more danger but I didn't want to kick him out while his duel runner wasn't working. It was tempting to get rid of Jack but then I knew that Natalie wouldn't be happy with that at all so that wasn't an option.

So I knew that there was only one course of action to take. I would distance myself from Yusei for a while although I would continue to be friendly around him. That way, any further romantic feelings wouldn't be developed and once he and Jack left to return to New Domino, things would slowly go back to the way they were before. It wouldn't be easy to do so but I had to protect Yusei, even if he wasn't aware that he needed such protection.

After my ankle completely healed, I wanted to resume a regular routine as much as possible so I would stay in my room and work on my book alone. It felt weird at first not being in the garage with Yusei but I told myself that I needed to do this for the both of us. For the first couple of days, no one had inquired me about my behavior but on the third day, it changed.

While I was in front of my laptop trying to type more pages for my book, I heard a knock on the door. Knowing that it was either Yusei or Jack since Natalie was at the hospital, I guessed that it was probably Yusei. I didn't answer the knock, hoping that whoever was on the other side would take the hint and go away but then I heard Yusei's voice, saying,

"Callie, I know you're in there. We need to talk."

Sighing inwardly, I got up and opened my door. I moved aside so Yusei could enter and after closing the door, I returned to my seat in front of the laptop and staring at the screen, I asked,

"Is anything wrong?"

I pretended to be working on my book, looking busy, but it wasn't easy, as my mind was distracted. I could hear footsteps approaching and they stopped when I felt Yusei's presence next to me. He looked over my shoulder and there was evidence that I hadn't gotten very much work done. He spun me around in my chair and then said,

"Ok, I know you haven't been working on your book or something is bothering you. What's going on?"

Quickly, I put on a smile, trying not to make it look forced, and replied, "Nothing is wrong. Why would you think that anything was wrong?"

Yusei gave me a look and replied, "Callie, you haven't been yourself after the night of the party. And if I didn't know better, I think you're distancing yourself from me. Did I do something wrong?"

I avoided Yusei's gaze by turning my head to the side and replied, "No. I wanted some alone time to get some work done. Anything wrong with that?"

I felt a hand on my chin and Yusei quickly turned me around until I couldn't avoid looking directly at him. He then replied, "If that was it, I would have left you alone but I know there's something more. Don't you trust me? I thought we were at least good enough friends that you could talk to me."

It hurt to see the slightly pained expression in Yusei's eyes although he was trying his best not to look too upset. After a minute of silence, I replied quietly,

"Of course, we're friends but there are some things that I can't talk about."

Yusei had this look, this resolve, that said that he wasn't going to give up pursuing the matter and as he was about to say something, I continued,

"I guess I can tell you a little of what's bothering me. Just give me a moment."

Yusei nodded and he looked a little better that I was willing to open up my thoughts a bit. I got up from my chair, walked over to the window and looked outside, noting how beautiful the day was despite the sadness weighing on my hurt. Keeping my eyes fixed on the outside, I asked,

"If there was someone you cared about, would you do everything in your power to protect them, keep them safe from harm?"

I could tell that the question sounded strange to Yusei as he replied in a weird manner,

"Of course but, Callie, why do you ask?"

I turned around to look at Yusei and with a smile on my face, I replied, "Oh I was just thinking about it. I mean, the question must pop up in everyone's heads at a certain point."

Yusei nodded and replied, "I suppose but-?"

I interrupted by saying, "And what would you do if, let's say, you knew something that could change how things are supposed to be? Like if you knew that certain events were supposed to happen but then something else happens that changes them, do you set things back on the right course, even if that means giving up on potential happiness?"

Yusei looked confused and I couldn't blame him. I did ask the questions in a hurried manner and they didn't really make sense out of context. Finally, he replied,

"I don't understand. Maybe if you could tell me the specific details, then I could answer."

I shook my head and replied, "Nah, it's ok. Forget it."

However, Yusei didn't let the subject drop and asked, "What happened? Something else did happen that night when you were taken but you aren't saying it, at least not directly."

I bit my lower lip and could see that Yusei was going to keep pursuing the subject until he got a satisfactory answer. Deciding to tell at least part of what else happened, I replied,

"Yeah, you're right. I have been distancing myself from you but it's not that I hate you or anything. That dark signer who took me knew that we were getting to be, um, friends and I didn't want you to be vulnerable so that's why."

I hung my head down, hoping that Yusei would believe my explanation for now. I did hesitate for a brief moment when I mentioned that Yusei and I were friends since the actual explanation was that I might be falling in love with him. Yusei nodded, taking in all that I said. After a minute, he replied,

"Ok, I understand but, Callie, you should have told me this. That dark signer played with your mind."

I nodded and replied, "Yeah, I know but I got out of there ok and I didn't let what he said affect me back then. I guess it's getting to me now that I'm away from him."

Yusei replied, "I know that you're a strong woman but it's ok to tell someone if something's bothering you. If you can't talk to me, you can talk to Natalie, right? I'd mention Jack but I know how much you two can barely stand to be in the same room together."

The last comment finally brought out a laugh at me and after calming down, I replied, "You know me pretty well, huh?"

Yusei chuckled quietly and replied, "At least on that." His face turned to one of a serious nature and then he continued,

"But next time, don't hold back if something's bothering you, ok? And don't worry about me. As long as we support each other, nothing can tear us apart."

I felt a little strengthened by Yusei's words and nodding, I replied, "You're right. And I'm sorry. I should have told you what was bothering me earlier but I really didn't want to burden you. You have a lot going on with the duel runners and I didn't want to add to that."

Yusei gave me a smile and replied, "You can never be a burden to me and speaking of the duel runners, I could use your help. Let's have lunch, just you and me, and then we can resume work like before."

He reached out to touch my hand and I nodded, replying,

"I'd like that."

Together, we went downstairs to the kitchen to begin making lunch for ourselves.

 **Chapter 15**

After Yusei and I had talked things out, things seemed to be returning to normal. I returned to the garage with my laptop, helping Yusei out whenever I could. Being there with him, I did find it easier to resume work on my book. My heart felt lighter and although I still had a few issues to work out, they didn't seem to be as much of a burden as before.

A couple of days later, while Yusei and I were in the garage early in the afternoon, I looked up from my laptop and saw Yusei get up and stretch out his arms in triumph. He turned to me and with a smile on his face, he said,

"I did it. I finally got them fixed."

I was happy for Yusei and getting up, I replied, "Really? That's great." I walked over to the duel runners to check out their condition and indeed, they looked almost brand new. I looked back at Yusei and said,

"It's pointless to say, of course, but you should probably test them out to make sure they're working properly."

Yusei nodded and replied, "Of course."

I helped Yusei take his duel runner out of the garage and on to the driveway. Then, looking around, I wanted to make sure that the neighborhood street was empty so Yusei could take his duel runner out for a test drive. Seeing that it was safe, I turned to Yusei and said,

"Ok, no one's out here so you should take it for a spin around the block. I'll watch from here."

Yusei nodded and after getting on his duel runner, he put on his red helmet. Then he revved up the engine and away he went on the street. I watched from the house and observed that Yusei's duel runner did look like it was working again. After Yusei returned, I clapped my hands in joy and said,

"Congrats! I know how much hard work it was to finish the repairs and all."

Yusei smiled at me and replied, "Thanks, Callie. It would have taken longer if you hadn't helped."

I blushed at the compliment, not knowing what to say. Fortunately, the silence between us was quickly broken when I heard my cell phone ring. Quickly picking it up, I said,

"Hello?"

On the other line, it was Natalie. She wanted to know if I'd like to drop by the hospital today since I had promised to give the children there a book reading. Seeing that I was free, I replied that I would come over as soon as I could.

After I hung up, I turned to Yusei and said, "That was Natalie. She wanted to know if I wanted to come by the hospital to do the book reading I'd promised for the children. I'd almost forgotten about it so it's a good thing Natalie reminded me. If you're ok with staying here, I'll go call for a taxi and-."

Yusei stopped me by saying, "You don't need to do that. I'll take you myself and I want to drop by there. Jack's with Natalie today, right?"

I nodded, remembering that Natalie offered to show Jack around the hospital and give him a little glimpse of what her usual work day was like. I was surprised that Jack had taken Natalie up on the offer, considering that I did remember that Jack didn't like hospitals but then it was Natalie so perhaps he couldn't refuse her. I replied,

"That's right but I can tell Jack. You don't need to trouble yourself with it. I'm sure you must be tired and want a break from all the work you put in."

However, Yusei shook his head and replied,

"I'm not tired and it wouldn't be any trouble to take you. I'd like to go with you and see this book reading for myself."

I blushed and nodding, I replied, "Ok, I guess that would be all right."

Yusei took out a spare helmet from a compartment in his duel runner and handing it to me, he said,

"Here. You'll need to put this on."

It was then that I realized that Yusei was going to give me a ride on his duel runner. I know I should have realized that immediately when he offered to give me a ride but it hadn't occurred to me that he would be using his duel runner to do so. I felt a little nervous since I've never ridden on a motorcycle and a duel runner was like a motorcycle. And of course, if I was going on a duel runner, that would mean I'd have to sit behind Yusei and hold on to him. The thought made me quite nervous, to say the least.

Yusei looked at the expression on my face and concern written on his face, he gently asked,

"Hey, are you ok?"

I nodded slowly and replied, "Yeah, I'll be fine. It's just that I've never ridden on anything other than a car, train, airplane…You get the idea."

Yusei realized what my nervousness was about and he gave me a gentle, warm smile. He approached me and putting his hand on my left arm, he said, "I won't let anything happen to you. You know that, right?"

I nodded and replied, "I trust you. I'll give it a try but can two people fit? I thought duel runners were designed specifically for only one person."

Yusei replied, "That's true but while I was making repairs, I made a few modifications to my duel runner so you'll be fine." He then leaned into my left ear and whispered huskily, "But just in case, you better hang on to me tightly."

I blushed as I felt Yusei's warm breath brush against my ear and not knowing what else to say, I put on the spare helmet. After waiting for Yusei to get on his duel runner, I sat behind him and wrapping my arms around his waist, I said,

"Ok, I'm ready."

Yusei nodded and after I gave him the directions to the hospital, he revved up the engine of his duel runner and we sped away from the house, heading towards the city and the hospital where Natalie worked. At first, I did feel a little scared as we sped off but Yusei didn't drive too fast and after I had time to get adjusted to the speed, I started to relax. I even started to enjoy the ride, hanging on to Yusei and feeling the blush on my cheeks. I wondered how red my cheeks were and was grateful that at least Yusei couldn't see me, for I was certain that I looked as red as a tomato.

After more than 30 minutes later, we arrived in front of a huge white building which was, of course, the hospital where Natalie worked and where Jack was for today. Yusei looked for a parking spot for his duel runner and he found one nearby. After he turned off the engine, I got off first and took off the spare helmet. Then I shook my hair out, enjoy the refreshing light cool wind. Yusei then got off and after taking off his helmet, he looked at me and asked,

"How was it?"

Excitedly, I replied, "That was awesome! I never knew that riding a duel runner would be so exciting." Then I slapped myself on the forehead and nervously laughing, I added,

"I sounded like Natalie just now, didn't I?"

Yusei chuckled lightly and replied, "True but I'm happy that you enjoyed the ride."

After we put our helmets in a compartment in the duel runner, Yusei and I headed towards the hospital. Once we were inside, I approached the nurses' station and told the nurse on duty that I was going to do a book reading in the children's wing, explaining who I was. While I was talking to her, some of the other nurses had seen Yusei and were sighing happily. I looked at their expressions and shook my head. I couldn't blame them since Yusei was so handsome but I did feel a little jealous since it was obvious that I came with him and I thought that other women should back off. Then I mentally slapped myself for having such a thought, becoming one of those jealous women. I know I'm better than that and I know that Yusei wouldn't be so fickle as to get attracted to other women.

After I finished talking to the nurse, I returned to Yusei and said,

"We can go to the children's ward. The nurse said that the children and the pediatrician there are waiting for me. Natalie must have told them earlier of my visit."

Yusei nodded and I led the way to the elevator. I pushed for the second floor button and then we arrived at the second floor. I looked around for the children's ward and soon found it. I entered first and saw the children happily engaged in artistic activities. There was a doctor as well as a couple of nurses. After I entered, the doctor approached me happily and he said,

"I'm happy to see you again, Ms. Callie. It's been quite a while since your last visit."

I nodded and replied, "That's true. I am sorry but I have been busy for a while. Some things came up and I'm working on a new book."

The doctor nodded and replied, "I understand." He then leaned into my right ear and whispered, "I've missed seeing you, too."

The comment brought a blush to my face. Oh, I had forgotten to mention what the pediatrician here looks like. He's tall with dark brown hair with brown eyes to match. He has a kind personality and he gets along wonderfully with children so it made sense that he became a pediatrician. I knew that he had some sort of a crush on me and although many of my friends couldn't understand it, I didn't feel attracted to him. I didn't see him as anything more than a friend.

Suddenly, I heard a loud cough behind me and turning around, I saw Yusei. It was hard to tell by the look on his face but I had a feeling that he didn't look too happy. Did he just see what the doctor whispered to me and the way I reacted? Quickly, I excused myself from the doctor and approached Yusei. Then I gave him a gentle smile and said,

"I probably know what you're thinking but there's nothing going on between him and me, ok? That might come off as a surprise but he's not my type."

I winked at Yusei and then picking one of the books I had written from one of the bookshelves, I took a seat in a low chair and the nurses had gathered the children together in a small semicircle, waiting for me to read. After all was quiet, I began to read the book, changing the tone of my voice when it got to the more exciting parts of the story. The children looked interested and happy as I read the book and although my eyes were mostly on the children, I would sneak a glance or two at Yusei and I could see him standing nearby with this gentle, handsome smile on his face.

After I was done with the book, the children shouted for another story. Laughing, I was about to oblige to their request and pick out another book when suddenly, I heard a loud commotion right outside. I got out of my seat and ran to the window to see what had happened. Yusei had heard the noise as well and followed me. What I saw before us shocked me but, more so, made me furious that it would happen at a hospital of all places.

 **Chapter 16**

Outside, I saw a couple of dark signers wreaking havoc in the parking lot of the hospital, causing destruction in their wake. I recognized one of them, for he was the one who had kidnapped me the night of the party. Quickly, I glanced at the children and noticed their scared expressions. Although the pediatrician and nurse were doing their best to calm them down, the children were very frightened by all the noise and the chaos.

Without saying anything, I ran out of the room and downstairs, determined to stop those dark signers before they caused further damage. I heard footsteps follow me and glancing behind me for a moment, I saw that Yusei was following me. We ran down the stairs and out of the hospital to the parking lot. As soon as we had arrived, one of the dark signers, a female, pointed to me and then turned to her partner and said,

"So that's the brat who caused you trouble? Such a little thing."

Before the other dark signer could reply, I said, "And who are you calling a brat? Look at what you two are doing. It's despicable, attacking a hospital of all places."

My kidnapper looked at Yusei and said, "It was a mistake to take your duel runner out. It was so easy to find you."

My eyes were wide-open after hearing what my kidnapper had said. Somehow, they were able to detect Yusei's duel runner, which made me wonder whether it would be easier to find Yusei and Jack if they were to take their duel runners out, now that they were repaired. However, before I could say anything, the female dark signer said,

"Since you couldn't handle the brat last time, I'll get the job done for master."

Yusei looked at me and in his eyes, he realized what the female dark signer meant by her words. He tried to run to me and yell, "Run, Callie!"

Before I could move, though, the female dark signer had grabbed me and the two of us were teleported to another place.

Looking around, I observed that I wasn't in a room. It looked like I was outside but there was purplish-black smoke all around. I could barely see in front of me and I couldn't see the female dark signer. Was she even nearby? As I was doubting that anyone else was here, I suddenly saw disturbing images and heard disturbing voices.

The first image I saw was of my mother and she had this disgusting, angry frown on her face and she yelled,

"You're such a disappointment, Callie! All my friends' kids are better than you. You're lazy. You never help out. You're useless!"

I covered my ears, not wanting to hear my mother's voice. Then I felt myself being slapped and looking forward, I saw my mother slap me on the face and punch me, saying,

"I hate you! I wish you were never my daughter. You never do what I want!"

I continued to cover my ears and closed my eyes, yelling, "Stop it! Stop! I don't want to hear this! Go away! I don't want you here! Leave me alone!" The tears were starting to spill and I felt distressed, for I didn't want to see my mother or hear her voice.

Then it got quiet and I wondered whether my mother was still here. Slowly, I opened my eyes and to my relief, she was gone. However, the relief was only temporary as I soon saw myself as a child all over again. I was surrounded by other children and getting teased and hit. Although this was a past memory, I could feel the hurt return all over again. I could hear their voices saying,

"Let's push her off the cliff. She should die!"

Then I saw another memory. This time, it was recess but the bell rang, signaling that it was time to go back inside the school. I ran with the other students but someone knocked me down and the other students stomped all over my back, not knowing or caring that I was on the pavement crying in pain.

I kept seeing memory after memory of pain. There was the time when I was in high school and I liked a boy and thought he liked me back. However, I found out later that he only pretended to like me as a joke to his friends and I ran away, feeling humiliated. I could hear their voices saying,

"You're so ugly! No guy will ever want you!"

The tears fell from my eyes as I kept seeing one bad memory after the other. Why was I seeing these images? Why was I being forced to remember all the bad times again? I thought I had put them behind me but seeing them again put the pain fresh in me.

The pain hurt so badly that I could no longer think straight. I couldn't tell what was real versus what was imagined. All I could think about was making the images stop, making the pain go away. However, then I saw something that only made me feel worse and confused. The tears had made my vision fuzzy but as soon as it cleared, I recognized the two people nearby. I was shocked to see Yusei and Akiza and it looked like they were kissing each other passionately. The sight brought new tears to my eyes and I ran to the couple, wanting an explanation. I reached Yusei and asked,

"What are you doing? Why are you doing this?"

Yusei looked at me with this smirk on his face and replied, "Don't you see? I used you so I could return home to be with my one true love. Did you ever think that I loved you? What a fool."

Akiza looked at me and added, "Yusei would never fall for someone like you. You're so small, such an insignificant thing. No one wants you."

I crumpled to the ground and wept, allowing the tears to stream down my face. The couple laughed hysterically and continued to insult me but all I could think of was that Yusei had used me and didn't care about me. I couldn't believe that he would say such words but there he was and I had heard them and seen him.

Under usual circumstances, I wouldn't have believed what was in front of me. I would have immediately doubted and investigated for the truth. But I was so emotionally distraught, practically out of mind, that I couldn't think straight. The emotional pain took over all of me and nothing anyone said or did at that moment would have made it any better.

Behind me, there was the female dark signer with a knife in her right hand. She spun me around and said,

"There you are. No one wants you so you should die right here."

I felt too weak emotionally to move and knew that the end was coming. The dark signer was correct-no one wanted me; I was useless so I shouldn't be allowed to live. However, just as the dark signer was about to use the knife to stab me, I saw the knife knocked out of her right hand. Wondering what happened, I saw that Yusei had come but why? I just saw him with Akiza and he didn't care about me so why was he here? He grabbed the female dark signer by the collar and said angrily,

"I wouldn't attack a woman but you hurt someone I care about." He then threw a couple of punches at the dark signer but she quickly got out of Yusei's grasp. Then she replied,

"How did you get here?"

Yusei replied, "You're right. Your partner is useless. I beat him up and then found the portal to this place."

The dark signer replied, "Is that so?" Seeing that Yusei was quite angry, she continued, "You win this battle but you won't defeat us. You and Jack Atlas will never return to New Domino." Then she disappeared, leaving Yusei and me alone.

Yusei then ran to me and looking into my eyes, he asked, "Are you ok?"

I wanted to laugh and reply to him that he should look at me and ask himself that question again. However, I doubted whether the Yusei in front of me was real or imagined. I just saw Yusei with Akiza and the hurtful words and images still lingered in my mind. I was silent for a while and Yusei said,

"Let's get out of here."

As Yusei was about to carry me in his arms, I quickly backed away from him and replied, "Get away from me! You're not real. You said you didn't want anything to do with me, that you only used me. Get out of here and leave me alone!"

Yusei looked confused and approaching me slowly, he replied, "Callie, I never said that. I'd never say anything like that to you."

I shook my head vehemently and replied, "Liar! I don't want to hear it. I saw you and Akiza and my mother and all of you said those things about me. Go away!"

As I mentioned Akiza, Yusei's eyes opened a little wider. It looked as though he wondered how I knew about Akiza but then his face changed to one of gentleness, as though my well-being at that moment was more important. Yusei continued to approach me until his arms surrounded my body is a soft hug. He then said,

"Callie, I care about you. I would never want to hurt you. Whatever you saw and heard, that wasn't me and it wasn't the others. It was a mind trick to make you vulnerable."

For a couple of minutes, I sat still on the ground with Yusei's arms surrounding me. I thought about what he said, that what I saw and heard before was a trick. It was possible that he was right but at that moment, how could I know that the Yusei before me was some figment of my imagination, possibly another trick? In disbelief, I shook my head and trying to get out of his arms, I replied,

"Let go of me! I don't believe you! You want nothing to do with me! Just tell me the truth!"

I sobbed, feeling distressed over my predicament. Suddenly, Yusei looked straight into my eyes and I thought that he would say something to deny my words. Instead, he leaned in and before I knew what had happened, he started to kiss me. I tried to resist at first, being in denial, but I felt weakened through struggling so much and finally, I surrendered to the kiss. I closed my eyes and wrapped my arms around Yusei, continuing to kiss him and to enjoy the moment.

Finally, the kiss ended and then Yusei looked at me, saying, "Let's get out of here. I'll protect you."

Feeling some sanity return to my mind, I nodded and Yusei carried me in his arms as we looked for an exit. We found the portal and entering it, the two of us returned to the parking lot of the hospital. There, we saw Natalie and Jack run towards us although there were only a few bystanders nearby. As soon as they reached us, Natalie asked,

"Are you guys ok?"

Then Natalie looked at me and I saw in her eyes that she looked very worried, especially about me. She then said,

"What happened to you?"

As I was about to cry again, feeling all the overwhelming emotions of sadness and despair, I felt my eyes suddenly close. I felt too weak to stay conscious and there I fainted, surrounding by complete darkness where either dreams or nightmares would invade my mind.

 **Chapter 17**

About an hour later, I woke up, feeling a little disoriented. My vision was blurry so I did my best to focus it and make it clear. Once I could see clearly, I looked around and saw that I was in a small white room. I could tell that it was one of the single rooms at the hospital. As I was wondering how I got there, I turned to my left and saw that Yusei was looking at me with much worry in his eyes. When his eyes and mine met, he said,

"How are you doing?"

Slowly sitting up, I replied, "I'm ok but how did I get here?"

Yusei replied, "After you fainted, Natalie and I thought it would be a good idea to bring you here to rest."

I nodded but didn't say anything. As I was getting my bearings, I remembered more of what had happened. I remembered the chaos back in the parking lot, how I was transported to another place where I saw hallucinations and visions of bad memories. Everything came back to my mind although I wish I had remembered none of it. It was all too confusing at the moment and I definitely wasn't ready to talk about what happened. I looked down at my lap, thinking of how interesting my hands looked.

Yusei then spoke up and asked,

"What are you thinking?"

I looked at him and the first thought that came to my mind was that I wanted to leave the hospital. I didn't want to go home but I needed to get out and have some time for myself, to think about all that had happened without anyone worrying about me. After a minute of silence, I replied,

"Can I check out of here? I'm fine so there's no need for me to stay."

Yusei shook his head and replied, "Callie, I don't think that's a good idea. A doctor did check you out while you were asleep and she said you're fine but…" He trailed off, not finishing his sentence.

I replied, "Well, if the doctor says that I'm fine, there's no reason for me to stay, right?"

Yusei replied, "But if something else happens to you and you're not here…I want you to be ok."

I sighed and replied, "I'm fine, Yusei. Look, I just fainted and considering what happened earlier, that's perfectly understandable but I want to leave this room and be outside."

Yusei was about to reply, probably to argue against me leaving, when the pediatrician who had greeted me before the book reading entered. He had heard about me fainting and as soon as he saw me awake, he asked,

"Ms. Callie, how are you feeling? I heard what happened."

I looked at the pediatrician and replied, "Better. I fainted but I feel good." Suddenly, I had an idea. Turning to Yusei, I looked at him and asked, "Umm, would you give us a few minutes?"

Yusei looked confused, probably wondering why I wanted to talk to the pediatrician alone, but nodding, he replied,

"Sure. I'll be near the nurses' station if you need anything."

I nodded and then Yusei left, leaving me alone with the pediatrician. I gestured to the pediatrician to approach closer and once he was close enough, I whispered to him,

"I need your help. I want to get out of here but Yusei is too worried about me and he doesn't want me to go. But I'm perfectly fine. I just need to leave and get some air, you know?"

The pediatrician nodded and replied, "I understand. I know what that's like. I shouldn't do this but I'll help you out this one time. There's something I want to ask you first, though."

I looked at him curiously and replied, "What is it?"

The pediatrician replied, "That guy who was with you just now…Is he your boyfriend?"

I sighed sadly and replied, "No, he's just a friend so there's no need to worry."

He nodded and replied, "Ok, I was just curious. Let's get you out of here. Wait here and I'll get you a spare uniform." The pediatrician then left my room and after several minutes, he returned, carrying a spare surgeon's outfit with him. Handing it to me, he said,

"Put this on and once you put the mask over your mouth, no one should recognize you as long as you keep your head down."

I nodded and getting up out of the bed, I went to the bathroom. After closing the door, I carefully put the surgeon's outfit over my clothes, as it was big enough to fit me. I wanted to be able to get rid of the uniform once I was safely out of the hospital. After putting the surgeon's mask over my mouth, I took a look at myself in the mirror and I could hardly recognize myself. I had hope that I could pull this off and leave the hospital without anyone recognizing me.

Then I left the bathroom and approaching the pediatrician, I said, "Ok, I'm ready."

He nodded and replied, "I'll lead you out of here to the entrance and there, you can get a taxi if you want to make a speedy getaway. Remember to keep your head down in case anyone you know happens to look in your direction."

I nodded and then the pediatrician led the way out of the room and down the hall. We had to take the elevator to go down the lobby and to the front entrance. Along the way, we did see Yusei and Yusei briefly looked in my direction but as I kept my head down, I only hoped that he wouldn't recognize me. Fortunately, no one stopped us and as we reached the front entrance and outside the hospital, the pediatrician looked at me and smiling a little, he said,

"It looks like we pulled it off. Stay safe, Ms. Callie, and I hope to see you again soon."

I returned the smile and replied, "Definitely. I owe it to the children after what happened today."

The pediatrician walked back towards the hospital and waved at me. Once he was out of sight, I looked around for a taxi and fortunately, I found one nearby. Getting inside, I asked the driver to take me to downtown and the driver nodded, immediately taking off away from the hospital.

As we headed towards downtown, I took the time to remove the surgeon's outfit, revealing my usual clothes underneath. The driver could see what I was doing and he raised an eyebrow although he didn't say anything. I looked at him and said,

"Don't ask. It's a long story."

The driver nodded, taking the hint.

Once we arrived in downtown, the driver asked, "Is there any particular place you wish to go, miss?"

I thought about where would be a good place to go and one where I wouldn't easily be found. A lot of people would drown their sorrows in alcohol when they feel the way that I'm feeling but I was never much of a drinker and didn't want to start now. Then I had an idea and replied,

"Do you know of any coffee shops that have open mike, like in those karaoke places and all?"

The driver replied, "I sure do, miss. I'll take you to one that's pretty well-known." He then headed towards a fairly big coffee shop and once he stopped, I paid the driver along with a generous tip and then leaving the taxi, I headed inside to the coffee shop.

Once I was inside, I looked around. There were some people although it wasn't too crowded. I liked the atmosphere of the place. It reminded me of one of those jazz nightclubs I loved to go to when I was younger but hardly had any time for nowadays. I took a seat at the counter and after briefly looking at the menu, I ordered an iced latte. After getting my drink and taking a sip, I heard one of the employees at the shop on the microphone say,

"As some of you know, today's open mike so the usual bands aren't here. Is there anyone who'd like to sing for us? Anyone?"

The employee looked around and no one volunteered to take to the stage. Feeling a little sorry for the employee, I stood up and said, "I'll give it a try."

The employee smiled at me gratefully and after telling her what song I wanted to sing to, I waited for the music to begin. Once it did, I took a deep breath and then sang the following words:

 _Remember all the things we wanted._

 _Now all our memories, they're haunted._

 _We were always meant to say goodbye._

 _Even with our fist held high_

 _It never would've worked out right, yeah._

 _We were never meant for do or die._

 _I didn't want us to burn out._

 _I didn't come here to hold you_

 _Now I can't stop._

 _I want you to know_

 _That it doesn't matter_

 _Where we take this road;_

 _Someone's gotta go._

 _And I want you to know,_

 _You couldn't have loved me better._

 _But I want you to move on,_

 _So I'm already gone._

 _Looking at you makes it harder,_

 _But I know that you'll find another_

 _That doesn't always make you want to cry._

 _Started with a perfect kiss_

 _Then we could feel the poison set in._

 _Perfect couldn't keep this love alive._

 _You know that I love you_

 _So I love you enough_

 _To let you go._

 _I want you to know_

 _That it doesn't matter_

 _Where we take this road;_

 _Someone's gotta go._

 _And I want you to know,_

 _You couldn't have loved me better._

 _But I want you to move on,_

 _So I'm already gone._

 _I'm already gone._

 _I'm already gone._

 _You can't make it feel right_

 _When you know that it's wrong._

 _I'm already gone._

 _Already gone._

 _There's no moving on_

 _So I'm already gone._

 _Remember all the things we wanted._

 _Now all our memories, they're haunted._

 _We were always meant to say goodbye._

 _I want you to know_

 _That it doesn't matter_

 _Where we take this road;_

 _Someone's gotta go._

 _And I want you to know,_

 _You couldn't have loved me better._

 _But I want you to move on,_

 _So I'm already gone._

 _I'm already gone._

 _I'm already gone._

 _You can't make it feel right_

 _When you know that it's wrong._

 _I'm already gone._

 _Already gone._

 _There's no moving on_

 _So I'm already gone._

After I finished, I heard a lot of applause so it sounded like a lot of people enjoyed it. I smiled and as I was about to get off the stage, I looked up at the audience and saw Yusei looking back at me. Not knowing what to do, I stood there frozen, a little fear coming to me as I was unable to think of a way to get out of my current situation.

 **Chapter 18**

Pondering over what to do, I took a deep breath. I reasoned to myself that it wouldn't be a good idea to run away, as that would only result in wondering eyes and Yusei running after me. I thought to myself,

 _Play it cool, Callie. Don't let him know that you're afraid._

Calmly and casually, I walked off the stage and went back to my seat at the bar, looking forward to drinking my latte. Another person had taken to the stage and sang another song although I didn't pay attention to it. Yusei had followed me and took a seat next to me. Although a waiter asked him if he wanted something, Yusei simply asked for a glass of water.

I pretended to be deeply interested in my coffee, hoping that Yusei wouldn't say anything. However, that wasn't likely to happen and after a few minutes of silence, Yusei suddenly asked,

"Why did you run away like that?"

I bit my lower lip and finally turning to him, I asked, "How did you find me?"

Yusei replied, "You first."

I replied, "Fine. As I told you back at the hospital, I wanted to check out and be outside but it was obvious that you were being overprotective so I had to find a way to sneak out."

Yusei replied, "I would have let you go if you had continued to be stubborn-."

Suddenly, I interrupted him by saying, "I'm stubborn? I'm determined-I'll give you that. But I was only exercising my right to freedom and you were restricting me from it. Now answer my question-how did you find me out?"

Yusei looked like he was doing his best to remain calm and replied, "I followed you from the hospital. I recognized you from that disguise that doctor must have given you. That's why you wanted to talk to him earlier. I didn't call you out earlier since he would have helped you."

I nodded and looked back down at my coffee. It did make sense now how Yusei followed me. I really wanted to be alone for a while but it looked like I was going to have company, whether I wanted it or not. Suddenly, I got a call from my cell phone. Picking it up and recognizing the caller to be Natalie, I immediately picked it up and said,

"Hello?"

However, instead of hearing Natalie's voice, I heard Jack at the other end, screaming,

"Where are you? Do you know that Natalie's crying right now, worrying about you? Of all the stupid things…"

Jack kept going on and on for a while and I moved the phone at arm's length, not wanting to hear any complaints. I was already in a somewhat depressed mood and didn't need to hear any more. Yusei observed me the whole time and he mouthed to me if the caller on the other end was Jack. I nodded and then Yusei took the phone from me, deciding to deal with Jack. Although I could have taken this opportunity to sneak away, I decided to stay put and watched as Yusei talked to Jack, calming him down and assuring him that I was all right and that I would be watched. I sighed inwardly as I heard Yusei say that he would watch over me. That meant that it would be much harder to sneak off by myself.

After Yusei finished talking to Jack, he gave me back my phone and said, "I calmed him down. That's Jack for you but he only acted like that because he cares about Natalie."

I nodded but didn't say anything. I knew that Jack cared about Natalie and I was happy for her although it seemed that she didn't look to the reality of what would eventually happen, that Jack and Yusei would have to return to their world and that we couldn't follow. I turned back to my coffee and finished it up. After paying the bill, I got up out of my seat and headed out towards the door. I felt Yusei follow me but didn't say anything.

We walked like that for a while. I would lead and Yusei would be my shadow. I wondered who would break the silence but I wasn't going to be the first. I hoped that Yusei would eventually get the hint and leave me alone but he was right behind me, watching over me. Finally, Yusei said,

"I know you're angry at me, Callie, but you can't keep up the silent act forever."

I turned around and confronting him, I replied, "You need to stop treating me like a child. I don't need a guardian watching over me."

Yusei sighed and replied, "If you would stop running away, I wouldn't need to. If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were avoiding me."

I looked down and felt my cheeks get hot. The truth was that I was avoiding him. I was afraid to explain what happened back when I experienced those hallucinations; I was afraid to tell him that I knew more about him, about Jack, than I was letting on. However, how could I explain all of that to Yusei? I feared that he would be angry and never forgive me if I was completely open with him although if the Yusei in front of me was like the Yusei from the anime, he wouldn't be.

I must have been quiet for some time since finally, Yusei replied, "You _are_ avoiding me." He approached closer to me and tilted my chin so that my eyes met his. He then continued,

"Is it because of the kiss?"

I shook my head in reply. The kiss should have been on my mind more but weirdly enough, it was the least of my worries. I was about to reply when suddenly, a group of five guys who looked like they were in a gang approached us. One of them, a big, burly guy with dark brown hair and dark brown eyes to match, approached me and I could smell the disgusting scent of beer on his mouth. He looked at me with lust in his eyes and said,

"Hey there, cutie. Why don't you leave your boyfriend here and come have some fun with us?"

Now normally, most women would have tried to walk away from such a situation or tried to find a peaceful solution out. However, I wasn't most women and with how I was feeling, I wasn't in the mood for such ridiculousness. Immediately stomping on his left foot, I replied in disgust,

"Like I'd go anywhere with you."

The guy momentarily cringed in pain and then grabbing my left arm, he replied, "You'll pay for that."

Feeling annoyed, I pulled myself away from the guy's grip and knocked him to the ground, saying, "You really don't want to mess with me tonight."

The other guys then decided to go ahead and attack Yusei and me. Yusei shielded me from them and said, "I'll handle this."

Not wanting to be the damsel in distress, I stepped in front of Yusei and prepared to defend myself from the gang members. A couple of them lunged towards me and remembering the moves from those self-defense classes I took, I defended myself and was able to take down both of them. The others went after Yusei but not surprisingly, he was able to fend off their attacks and knock them down.

After all of them were on the ground, either unconscious or in pain, I walked away and muttered to myself,

"That's what they get for going after me when I'm in a bad mood."

Yusei went after me, calling out, "Hey, wait up."

However, I kept walking and even got to the point that I was almost running. I wanted to get away and just be alone and wondered to myself,

 _Why doesn't Yusei get the hint? Sometimes some people just need some alone time._

When it appeared that we were finally far enough away from those thugs, Yusei took my right hand and spun me around. He looked intently into my eyes and said,

"We need to stop. We're going to talk whether you like it or not."

Sighing, I looked down on the ground and replied, "I don't want to talk about what happened. I know that's why you're being my shadow but I'm fine. I have no injuries and all I want is to be alone. And you saw just now that I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself so you don't need to protect me."

Yusei drew me into his arms and wrapping me in his embrace, he replied,

"I know you're fine physically but something's broken inside. It helps to talk. I know there are some things you aren't ready to tell me but I know that you will when you're ready. But if you don't want to talk, at least don't send me away. I want to be here for you."

I looked up at him and replied, "Why do you want to be here for me?"

Yusei looked surprised, as though I had asked him a question that I already knew the answer to. After a moment of silence, he replied, "I care about you, Callie. You've been here for me since Jack and I first got here. I don't know what I'd have done if it weren't for you."

I replied, somewhat sadly, "So you're here for me only because I helped you out?"

Yusei shook his head and replied, "That's not the only reason. I've gotten to know you and I've never met a woman, anyone, like you."

He took a deep breath and looked a little nervous, like he wanted to tell me something else but wasn't sure how to. Worrying a little, I reached up to touch his right cheek and said,

"What is it? You can tell me. I'm here and I'm not running away although you aren't giving me much of a choice."

As I was still enveloped in Yusei's arms, I couldn't run off even if I wanted. Yusei smiled a little and replied,

"That's true. Ok, here it is. Callie, I'm here for you and I always will be and there is a big reason for it. In the short time we've gotten to know each other, I feel so strongly about you. I didn't know what that feeling was at first but now I do." He stopped for a moment to touch my left cheek and then continued,

"It's because I lo-."

Suddenly, high in the night sky, I could see the crimson dragon appear. I wondered to myself what it was doing here of all places but I felt that the dragon was calling to me, that it wanted me. I looked back at Yusei and knew that he was about to confess something huge to me so I didn't know what to do. Do I go to the crimson dragon or do I stay in Yusei's arms to hear what he wanted to tell me?

 **Chapter 19**

My eyes continued to look up at the sky, watching the crimson dragon and wondering where it was going. Although a part of me wanted to stay in Yusei's arms, to hear his confession, the other part of me felt a need to leave, to see what the crimson dragon wanted.

I looked at Yusei but before I could say anything, he said,

"You need to go, right? I can tell that in your eyes."

I nodded and it never ceased to amaze me how Yusei had this ability to read my feelings, almost like seeing into my heart. He then continued,

"But promise me that you'll return. I won't chase after you if you promise me that you'll come back."

I nodded and replied, "I will. I know there are some things that we still need to talk about."

Yusei nodded and slowly, he released me. I was about to leave but before I did so, I gave him a quick kiss on the right cheek and then ran in the direction where the crimson dragon went.

I ran as fast as my feet would allow, heading towards the park that was in the middle of the city. I observed that was where the dragon headed. Along the way, I briefly asked myself why Yusei let go of me more easily and then it occurred to me that seeing the crimson dragon, Yusei knew that it was a friend and that I would be in no danger.

Finally, I reached the park although my feet were a little tired from all the running. As I stopped to rest, I saw the crimson dragon in front of me and almost instantly, it was like we were being taken to another place. The place had no physical definition; it was more like a realm of the warmest light-the feeling that one would have from being loved for all time. I looked into the eyes of the dragon, wondering what he wanted with me, for I felt that he had called out to me for some reason. The dragon made a soft roar and then telepathically, he started to communicate with me. As he looked straight into my eyes, he said,

" _Miss, I know that you've been helping the bearers of the mark and for that, I thank you."_

Knowing that the crimson dragon had referred to Yusei and Jack, I simply nodded and then waited for him to continue. He then said,

" _I found a way for the bearers to return to New Domino and stop the new dark signers from further destruction. You must know that if the bearers don't return, your world will be in danger, too."_

I nodded in reply, for it did make sense that if Yusei and Jack continue to stay in this world, more dark signers would continue to come and cause trouble. I said,

"I'll do everything I can to help."

The crimson dragon roared in approval and in my right hand, there appeared two golden bracelets with some markings engraved on them. I looked at the dragon in confusion and the dragon said,

" _Give one to each bearer and they can return to New Domino but if you choose, you and your friend can choose to go with them. I know enough."_

I knew what the dragon alluded to and shaking my head, I replied, "But we can't. We'd be disrupting the timeline, in a way. I mean…Haven't some events been already messed up because of what those dark signers did?"

The dragon nodded its head and replied,

" _Yes, but it's doubtful that what you call the timeline can be restored to the way it was. I'm giving you the choice. Either way, I trust that you'll help the bearers return to New Domino and restore peace to the city."_

I wanted to talk to the crimson dragon more, to ask him questions, but then our surroundings changed. Instead of being surrounded by the warm light, I was back in the park and the crimson dragon no longer appeared in front of me. For a couple of minutes, I thought that perhaps the conversation was a dream but then I looked down at the bracelets in my right hand and realized that it wasn't. I could feel some sort of power coming from them and knew that the dragon meant for me to have them and to trust that I would do the right thing for everyone's sakes.

I placed the bracelets in my purse, thinking that it was best to ponder for a few hours at least on what to do with them. Seeing how late it was and how Yusei was probably worried about me, I returned to where Yusei was. I ran as fast as I could, not wishing for him to have to worry about me for a moment longer than necessary.

When I finally arrived, I panted, having run out of breath from the running and the excitement. Yusei saw me and approaching me, he gave me a big hug and said,

"You kept your promise."

I nodded and smiling, I replied, "Of course. I told you that I would return and I wasn't in any danger."

Yusei replied, "I knew you'd be ok."

I reached up to touch his cheek and replied, "As I said, I'm stronger than I look so don't underestimate me. I know there's a lot to talk about but let's go home first, ok? If Natalie's up, I can talk to her and apologize for running off earlier. I promise that I'll tell you everything soon, ok?"

Yusei nodded and replied, "I trust you, Callie. Let's go. My duel runner's nearby."

Yusei led the way to where his duel runner was parked and I followed him. Once there, Yusei handed me a spare helmet and then we both got on. I put on the helmet and then wrapped my arms around Yusei's waist, making sure not to be too tight. Then we headed away from the city and back towards the house, where Natalie and Jack were most likely waiting. Since it was pretty late now, I assumed that they had returned home after Yusei talked to Jack on my phone earlier.

The ride was pretty smooth and there was hardly any traffic so we arrived back at the house in a little after 15 minutes. After we got off and Yusei put his duel runner back in the garage, we went inside the house and closed the door. I looked around for Natalie and as my eyes faced the living room, there was a sight that I didn't expect to find. On the sofa, there was Natalie and Jack both asleep. Jack had his arms wrapped protectively around Natalie and Natalie had this peaceful smile on her face. I couldn't help but smile at seeing the two of them in such an embrace and I looked at Yusei. He had about the same expression on his face that I did. Without saying anything, I led the way upstairs and Yusei followed me.

When we arrived at the door to my room, I quietly said,

"I can talk to Natalie in the morning and apologize. And umm, Yusei, thank you for being patient with me today. I know I can be difficult at times."

Yusei smiled at me and replied, "You don't need to apologize to me. I'm sorry if I was overprotective. I just want to make sure that you're safe because I care about you."

I nodded and replied, "I understand." Closing my eyes, I decided to make an important decision. Opening my eyes, I looked straight into Yusei's eyes and continued,

"I know you told me that I would confide in you when the time was right. Tomorrow will be that day. I can't keep what I know inside of me anymore, especially now that your duel runner's been fixed and it's almost time for you and Jack to return. I want to talk to Natalie first, though, and I'm certain that she would want to talk to Jack herself. I know I'm being cryptic but I promise that I'll tell you everything tomorrow, no matter what the consequences afterwards will be."

Yusei looked a little confused but nodding, he replied, "I'll wait then. I guess I should let you go and get some sleep now."

As Yusei was about to head off to his room for the night, I suddenly grabbed his left arm and shyly asked,

"Umm if I'm not being too forward, would you stay with me tonight? I don't want to be alone but if it's too much trouble-."

Yusei smiled softly and shaking his head, he replied, "I'll stay with you and make sure you're safe."

I smiled gratefully and after opening the door, Yusei and I entered. Then I closed the door, took a pair of pajamas from a dresser drawer and went to the bathroom to wash up and change. After several minutes, I was done and after putting away my clothes, I climbed into bed and patted the left side of my bed, silently inviting Yusei to sleep next to me. Yusei took off his jacket, placed it on a chair and then climbed into bed next to me. I pulled the covers over us and Yusei wrapped his arms around me, asking,

"Do you feel safe now?"

I looked up at him and smiling softly, I replied,

"Without a doubt. Good night, Yusei."

Yusei smiled back at me and replied, "Good night, Callie. Sleep well." He gave me a soft kiss on my forehead and then we both closed our eyes, soon falling asleep in each other's arms.

 **Chapter 20**

Waking up the next morning, I felt the warm rays of the sun on my cheeks and the embrace of two strong arms around my body. I opened my eyes and the first sight I saw was Yusei gazing back at me. Involuntarily, I blushed and asked,

"How long have you been awake?"

Yusei replied, "About ten minutes. You looked peaceful so I didn't want to wake you yet. Natalie peeked in. She's making breakfast for everyone so we should go down when you're ready."

I nodded and sitting up, I said,

"I should take a shower and change."

Yusei replied, "I'll do the same. Let's meet in the hallway when we're ready."

He then removed his arms from my waist and got out of bed, heading to his room to get ready. I missed the contact of his warm embrace but then remembered that I had to get ready so I got out of bed as well and after taking a change of clothes, I went to the bathroom to shower and change.

About 15 minutes later, I was all ready for the day. I decided on a simple outfit of a light green t-shirt with dark blue jeans and decided to leave my hair down, letting it fall beautifully over my shoulders. After I was done making sure that I looked all right, I went to the hallway to wait for Yusei. Yusei left his room shortly after and then we made our way downstairs and to the kitchen, where Natalie and Jack were already eating. I could see that they were having blueberry pancakes and the choice of either coffee or orange juice for a drink. Jack looked up and said,

"It's about time you two showed up. I'm surprised to see Yusei up late. You're becoming a bad influence on him."

Jack looked my way and I immediately replied, "What? Of all the stupid things to say in the morning-."

Natalie sighed and replied, "Please, no arguing right now. I'm still too out of it."

Yusei looked at me and touching my right hand, he said, "Natalie's right. Let's get something to eat, ok? You must be hungry."

I nodded and took my usual seat at the table while Yusei took a seat beside me. Natalie gave each of us a plate of pancakes and I asked for juice while Yusei wanted coffee. As Jack had finished his breakfast quickly, he got up and then went to the living room. Natalie was finishing up when I said,

"I'd like to talk to you alone after I'm done, ok?"

I could tell that Natalie wondered what was up but nodding, she replied, "Ok. I'll be in the living room with Jack. Just come get me when you're ready."

She took hers and Jack's plates and utensils and put them in the kitchen sink to wash later. Once Yusei and I were alone, Yusei said,

"This has to do with what you told me last night, right?"

I nodded and replied, "Yeah, it does. I promise I'll tell you everything. You deserve to know. It's just that I should tell Natalie first so she can break the news to Jack. It's obvious that she gets along better with him than I do."

Yusei gave a small smile and replied, "That's true. I don't understand why you and Jack don't get along."

I shrugged and replied, "Maybe it's our personalities? We're like oil and water-they don't mix well."

Yusei chuckled quietly at my comment and the two of us finished breakfast soon after. We took our plates, utensils, and glasses to the kitchen sink and Yusei helped me to wash them as well as clean the table. Once everything was clean and tidy, we went to the living room and approaching Natalie, I said,

"Let's go talk in my room. There's something I want to show you."

Natalie nodded and as we went upstairs, Jack shouted, "Don't keep her all day." While Natalie giggled, I simply rolled my eyes at the comment.

Once we entered my room and I closed the door, Natalie took a seat at the foot of my bed while I took the desk chair. Natalie looked at me and said,

"What's up? I saw you and Yusei here earlier. It looks like you two are getting along very well."

I blushed at Natalie's teasing but I knew that this was no time for that. I took a deep breath and said,

"Natalie, I want to apologize first to you for running off like that yesterday. I know how worried you were about me."

Natalie looked a little sad and replied, "Yeah, I was. I mean, you're my best friend, after all, and I know how strong you are but when the kind of crazy things that have been happening to us lately occur and you run off like that, I have no idea if I'll ever see you again."

I nodded and replied, "I understand and I won't do that again, ok? Besides, Yusei told Jack that he'd keep a close eye on me so it would be almost impossible to run off without someone noticing."

Natalie giggled and replied, "That's because Yusei cares about you. Has he told you that he loves you?"

I thought back to what happened last night, especially the part where Yusei held me in his arms and was about to make his confession. It did sound like he was going to tell me that he loved me but then we saw the crimson dragon and he wasn't able to complete it. I felt that it was just as well. If Yusei was in love with me, it would only complicate things and make it harder for me to do what I needed to do.

Looking back at Natalie, I shook my head and replied, "Nope, he hasn't but it's ok. I'm not expecting him to tell me such a thing. You know my track record with guys."

Natalie looked disappointed and replied, "But this is Yusei, your dream guy. Everything would be perfect if he told you that he loves you and you would finally be happy and-."

I interrupted Natalie by saying, "It's ok, Natalie. Really, it is. I'm not heartbroken about it or whatever. Anyway, there was another reason I wanted to talk to you."

Natalie nodded and she was silent, allowing me to continue. I found my purse, took out the two bracelets and then proceeded to tell her everything that had happened last night after I left the hospital, especially the part about when the crimson dragon talked to me and found a way for Yusei and Jack to return to New Domino.

After I was done retelling the events of last night, I took a deep breath before continuing,

"I'm giving you one of these bracelets. It will help Jack to return to New Domino. I guess he just needs to put it on or something. But you can go with him if you choose. I've seen how close you two have become and although I do think it would disrupt how events should go in their world, you should decide what you want."

Natalie took one of the bracelets, looked at it, and then looked back at me. She replied,

"What are you going to do, Callie?"

I looked down and replied, "I'm going to tell everything to Yusei today. He needs to know what's been going on and how we happen to know certain things. I've done a pretty decent job of covering for that knowledge although I've always had the feeling in the back of my mind that Yusei knows that I wasn't telling him everything. I think you should do the same with Jack. If you want to have a future with him, he should know the truth, right? That's the basis of a solid, open relationship and all that."

Natalie nodded and replied, "I'll let Jack know but what I meant was more along the lines of if you'll go back with Yusei to New Domino."

Immediately, I shook my head and replied, "I don't think it will happen. I care about him very much and I want him to be happy but after what I tell him today, I'm sure he'll hate me for keeping things from him, even if they were for a good reason. And I don't want to disrupt things further from how they already are. But I don't want my decision to influence yours. If you want to go back with Jack, I'll understand. I'd miss you lots, of course, but I want you to be happy."

Natalie smiled sadly and replied, "And I want you to be happy, Callie. I don't want to argue with you on this but I think you should rethink your decision. I haven't ever seen you so happy or Yusei, either. I mean, I've watched _5D's_ with you and I know how Yusei is when he's happy but this is different. I'm not sure if I can explain it well but it's like you two are meant for each other. And if you don't go back with him, that Akiza will be worshipping at his feet. Urgh."

I laughed quietly and replied, "I suppose but Akiza isn't so bad. I don't like the worshipping part, either, and thank goodness I haven't behaved that way towards Yusei but Akiza wouldn't be so bad for Yusei, would she? As far as I know, she and Yusei are supposed to be the canon pairing."

Natalie replied, "But you're way better for Yusei and he needs a woman who's his equal and you're that woman."

I smiled a little and said, "There are fans out there who would disagree. I'll think about what you said although I doubt I'll change my mind."

I stood up and then said, "I should go find Yusei and I guess you want to talk to Jack."

Natalie nodded and then we left my room and went downstairs to the living room where Yusei and Jack were. It looked like they had finished some sort of conversation as well and if I didn't know better, it looked like Yusei was uncomfortable or embarrassed. Jack saw Natalie and me and immediately turning his attention to Natalie, he said,

"Good. She didn't keep you prisoner all day."

Feeling annoyed, I replied, "Geez, why can't you get off my case just this one time?"

Jack shot a look back at me and was about to reply when Natalie touched his right arm and said,

"I need to talk to you about something if you're not too busy. I'd like to go somewhere more private."

Jack nodded and without further comment, he walked with Natalie upstairs.

Breathing a sigh of relief, I was silently grateful to Natalie that she had stepped in when she did. Jack definitely got on my nerves at times and it was quite irritating. Yusei then looked to me and noticing my weary expression, he said,

"You could use some fresh air. Let's go for a ride."

Thinking that it might be a good idea to get out of the house for a while, I nodded and replied, "That would be great and it's perfect weather today."

Yusei smiled at me and together, the two of us went outside and then to the garage to get Yusei's duel runner. I took the spare helmet, put it on, and then hopped behind Yusei on his duel runner and held on to him as he revved up the engine and we headed away from the house.

 **Chapter 21**

Yusei and I headed towards the city although there wasn't a specific destination in mind. I just needed some time alone to talk to him and although I felt nervous about what I was going to tell him, I knew that it had to be done. Now that Yusei had repaired both duel runners and there were the means for him and Jack to return to New Domino, there needed to be closure. Despite what Natalie had told me about pursuing a romantic relationship with Yusei, I had to be realistic and knew that it couldn't happen, not without some major consequences. I looked off to the side and sighed sadly. Yusei noticed my action since he asked gently,

"Is everything ok?"

Quickly, I turned to him and said, "Yeah, I'm fine. Once we're in the city, can we park your duel runner somewhere? I'd like to go for a walk."

Yusei replied, "Sure."

Once we were in the city, Yusei headed towards the parking lot where I had first parked my car the first time I took Yusei to the city. After we made sure that his duel runner was secure and we both took off our helmets, I led the way. Even though the day was beautiful, it was lost on me, as I had only one thought on my mind. I must have been silent for a while since Yusei suddenly said,

"You don't have to tell me if you're not ready, ok?"

I looked at him and said, "I want to, really I do. It's just that I don't know exactly the best way to bring this up without making it sound like I'm mental or something. What I want to tell you has to be taken with a lot of faith. I've had people in my life who've put me down or doubted me because they didn't have faith in me but it isn't about me."

I could feel myself starting to ramble and I knew that I was getting really nervous. Yusei seemed to sense this, too, as he held my hands in his and replied,

"I have faith in you. I'll believe in you. How could I ever doubt you after all we've been through?"

I blushed but felt a little relieved as Yusei was able to calm me down. Suddenly, I thought of something and asked,

"Hey, Yusei, how come you can read my feelings so well? The only other person who's ever really been able to do that is my dad although Natalie comes a close second."

Yusei smiled a little and replied, "We're a little alike in a way so I can sort of read your body language. Does that make sense?"

I nodded and replied, "It does. I hope I'm not so predictable, though. I hope to give you some surprises now and then."

Yusei chuckled quietly and replied, "You're not predictable and you're definitely not what I expected. The other night, when you beat up those guys, it was a little hard not to feel sorry for them. Then again, they did deserve it for trying to hit on you like that."

I laughed a little and replied, "That's right. No jerk does that to me and gets away with it."

We both then laughed and I could feel myself at ease more. It made things less tense and looking into Yusei's eyes, I said,

"I want to show you something. It might make it easier to see it with your eyes than to hear it from my lips."

Yusei nodded and taking his left hand, I led the way through the sidewalks, crossing a few intersections. After about 20 minutes of walking, I stopped in front of a medium sized toy store. I was about to open the door and enter when Yusei asked,

"What are we doing here?"

I turned to Yusei and replied, "You'll see. I'll explain things better once I find what I'm looking for."

I entered the toy store and Yusei followed me. I walked through a couple of aisles until I found the section that sold _Yu-Gi-Oh!_ trading cards. I selected a pack that had a picture of stardust dragon and showed it to Yusei. Yusei looked at me confused and asked,

"Callie, are these my cards? Why are they here in this store?" He reached into one of his pockets and took out his deck which had all of his cards, including stardust dragon.

I took a deep breath and replied, "Well, you see, Yusei, here's the thing. I know I should have said something from the beginning but I didn't want to shock you or anything. I tried to imagine what it would have been like to be in your shoes and experience what you've gone through."

Then I went on to explain how, in this world, _Yu-Gi-Oh!_ and everything and everyone associated with that universe didn't really exist. They were regarding as nothing more than manga, anime, and games that spawned from the series. As I explained everything to Yusei, I looked at him carefully, observing his reaction. He looked very surprised but relatively calm. I had to give him credit; I'm not sure I would have remained calm if I'd heard such news.

After I was done, Yusei finally replied, "Forgive me, Callie, but is everything you just said the truth? I find it incredible."

I felt a little hurt, remembering before how Yusei had said that he would have faith in me and here he was, doubting me. But then I had to remember that if I were in Yusei's shoes now, it would be hard for me to believe. I nodded and replied,

"I know it's hard to believe but yeah, I told you the truth. Let me take you somewhere else that'll verify what I said."

I put back the pack of cards and left the store. I led the way a few blocks down and then stopped in front of a store that sold anime DVDs. I opened the door and entered the store and Yusei followed me. As there was only a very bored clerk manning the cashier's counter, I was able to walk peacefully in the store. I found the section that sold _Yu-Gi-Oh!_ DVDs as well as all the spin-offs to the series and pointing them to Yusei, I said,

"Here's more proof. People here watch it for entertainment. Natalie has a lot of these DVDs if you want to take a look at them."

Yusei picked up one of the DVDs that had a picture of himself, Jack, and Crow and the title _Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's_ on it and quickly put it down. He was silent for a long time and I couldn't blame him. It was hard news to swallow. I wasn't sure of what to do so I stood there in front of him, waiting for his reaction or any sign.

After a long silence, Yusei finally asked, "When you and Natalie first met Jack and me, did you think that we weren't real?"

I was surprised by the question but knowing that Yusei had to know the truth, I replied, "I didn't know what to believe when I first saw you. Natalie was so sure right away that it was the two of you but I couldn't be sure. I mean, there could have been other explanations and one of us had to be rational and I'm usually that person. But after you woke up and we began to talk and get to know each other, then I knew that you were real and somehow had ended up here."

Yusei was silent for a while and during that time, I observed him, trying to figure out what he was feeling. He didn't look angry but rather pensive, like he was trying to solve a puzzle but not finding the solution. Finally, he replied,

"Part of me doesn't want to believe any of this but you've shown me the proof. Then again, it could be an elaborate trick on your part."

I wasn't sure how to react to Yusei's words. The comment about the trick hurt me and it took me a minute before I could reply with,

"It's not a trick, Yusei. Everything I told you is the truth. I'm sorry I didn't tell you before. I was trying to protect you until the time was right and-."

Yusei put his right hand up to motion me to be quiet and immediately, I was. He then replied quite calmly, "If you had thought of me first, you would have told this to me right away or at least not have waited so long. It's as though you intentionally withheld all of this from me, something that those dark signers would do."

I backed away from Yusei, feeling hurt with the words he was telling me. I couldn't believe my ears. Although I couldn't blame Yusei for being upset at me, this felt like it was going a little far. I turned my back to him, hung my head down and quietly replied,

"I'm sorry, Yusei. I am. I guess I should have told you all of this from the beginning but I really was trying to do what I thought was best. I can't blame you for hating me."

Then I ran away, not bothering to wait to hear Yusei's reply, if he had planned to give any. Not knowing where I was going, I kept running, wanting to be as far away as possible. The tears that I had suppressed in my eyes finally spilled and although there were probably strangers who noticed and stared, I didn't care. All I knew was that Yusei was hurt by my actions-that I didn't tell him the truth earlier-and that was something I couldn't take back. I had forgotten to tell Yusei about the crimson dragon and how he could return to New Domino but my feelings overwhelmed me and it slipped my mind.

I had no idea how long I had been running but when I stopped, it was because I bumped into something or rather someone. I fell to the ground and the person I bumped into fell down as quickly. Feeling embarrassed, I kept my head down and said,

"I'm sorry. I didn't watch where I was going."

The voice of the person was warm and familiar as he replied, "It's all right, my beautiful Callie. You must have been in a hurry not to look on ahead."

I knew who the voice belonged to but I had to confirm with my eyes. Looking at the person's face, I was slightly cheered up as I shakily replied,

"Hi, Dad."

 **Chapter 22**

Despite my saddened mood, I felt a little cheered up as I bumped into my dad. He always brought a smile to my face just with his presence and I had to admit to myself that I had missed him. It had been a while since our last visit. I looked into his eyes and said,

"How are you?"

My dad looked back into my eyes and it was a though he knew right away that something was amiss. With a small smile, he replied, "I'm all right but something's wrong. I can see it in your eyes."

Although I would have denied this statement if others had spoken it, I couldn't do so with Dad. He always knew when I was happy, angry, sad, etc. However, I wasn't ready to tell him what was wrong. Dad must have sensed this because the next thing he said was,

"It's rare for us to meet up nowadays so how about we get some lunch? And I won't take a refusal on my offer."

Nodding, I agreed and I followed Dad as we walked down a few blocks to a nearby café. Once we arrived, a waiter escorted us to a table outdoors and gave us menus. After the waiter left, Dad and I opened our menus but I really wasn't hungry. My mind was still on the argument I had with Yusei and I felt sad. I had anticipated that Yusei might not react well to all that had happened and how I had kept certain information from him but I hadn't anticipated that he would be angry to a point that it would hurt. I closed my menu, sighed quietly, and said,

"I'm not hungry, Dad, but you can order what you like."

The waiter returned after a few minutes, asking us if we were ready to order. Dad closed his menu, turned to the waiter and said,

"I'll have the steak, well-done, with baked potato and my lovely daughter here will have the chocolate ice cream and brownie special."

The waiter jotted down the order, took our menus, and left. Then I looked at Dad but before I could say anything, he said,

"You can never refuse dessert, especially when it comes to chocolate. And if you can't eat it all, we can share, ok?"

I nodded, smiling softly to myself and thinking about how Dad always knew me so well and how I couldn't refuse certain things like chocolate. While waiting for our orders, Dad engaged in small talk, discussing about innocuous subjects like the weather, how work was going, and so forth. He was careful to avoid touchy subjects, as he knew that I would usually close myself off if someone brought them up.

After the waiter returned with our orders, Dad and I didn't talk as much but we had the food so we could eat. Although I wasn't hungry, I did eat the dessert, as Dad was correct-I've never been able to pass up on chocolate. Eating it did cheer me up a little although not much.

After we finished our food and Dad paid the bill, he and I left the café and Dad said,

"Let's go for a walk. I want to catch up with what's going on with you."

Inside, I took his words as meaning

 _I know something's up and this is my subtle way of finding out._

Nodding, I walked beside Dad through the streets of the city. Although it was busy, as it was early in the afternoon now, it wasn't too crowded. We passed by several stores although we didn't enter in any of them. I was happy to be spending time with my dad, as he was one of the people in my life who always made me happy and never let me down. However, as my mind still weighed heavily with Yusei, I couldn't completely focus on Dad or the particular sights he would point out now and then.

After a while of walking, I found that we had arrived at the park and Dad motioned for me to follow him. So I did and walking through the park, it was quite lovely. The trees had beautiful bright green leaves on their branches and there were some people enjoying the afternoon. I saw a few children playing and then I saw a few couples. I couldn't help but look at them and felt a little envious of how happy they were. From afar, I could see how deeply in love they were and it hit me that I would never have that feeling. There wasn't a guy out there that I was so madly in love with that the whole world disappears or was there? Feeling confused, I shook my head, trying to sort out my thoughts.

Dad saw what I was doing and he said, "Let's sit down. I want to find out what's going on."

He led the way to an empty bench and after he took a seat, I sat down next to him. However, I didn't immediately speak, as I wasn't sure how to bring up the topic of Yusei and all the problems and craziness I had experienced since he and Jack had arrived. I think Dad could tell that I was having difficulty bringing up the topic since he said,

"I know something's wrong but I'm not sure what it is. I know it's not about your mom because you would have come right out and said so."

I replied, "It has nothing to do with Mom, I think."

Dad raised an eyebrow as I said the last two words but then he continued, "And you're not having troubles with Natalie, right?"

I shook my head but didn't say anything.

Dad then said, "I doubt it's about a guy since you take care of those issues right away and-."

He stopped, as I had hung my head in a weak attempt to hide the tears that were threatening to spill from my eyes. Immediately, Dad wrapped me in a hug and said,

"Did a guy hurt you? I'll teach him a lesson. No one messes with my daughter and gets away with it."

I smiled a little upon hearing Dad's words and his hug comforted me, like being in a warm embrace. After calming down and wiping the tears from my eyes, I turned to him and said,

"It's more complicated than that, Dad. I guess I should get you caught up on what's been going on."

Taking a deep breath, I knew that I would have to choose my words carefully. If I revealed the entire truth to Dad, he might think that my imagination was working on overtime. So I had to edit the events concerning Yusei and Jack. I told Dad about how Natalie and I had found them and helped them out and such. I left out the parts about the attacks by the dark signers, as I was certain that Dad would have only been worried about me even though the danger had probably passed. I told him about how I had left out certain details to Yusei because I had wanted to protect him and I didn't think he would have been ready at the time if I had told him those details early on. I was careful to explain these events to Dad and observing Dad, I saw that he was taking in everything I said and trying to understand.

After I was done, I took a deep breath and didn't say anymore, as I was a little exhausted from speaking. Dad took the opportunity to speak up and said,

"I'm trying to figure this all out but I want you to know that I believe you and that I have faith in you and always will. Never doubt that, even if it appears that others do."

I smiled at Dad and he took my left hand and squeezed it gently. He then continued,

"I want to meet this guy, especially since he has you unnerved a bit. I know that you withheld certain details from him as a way to protect him but were you trying to protect yourself as well?"

Immediately, I shook my head and replied, "No, of course n-."

Dad put his right index finger to my lips and gently stopped me by saying,

"I think I know you pretty well, my sweet Callie, but I'm your dad so it would make sense. All your life, you've put up these emotional walls around yourself. I know that it's somewhat because of how your mom treated you and I'm so sorry that I wasn't a better dad to help you with that."

I shook my head and replied, "It's not your fault, Dad. You can't control how she is and all."

Dad nodded and replied, "True but still, I should have helped you out with that better. Then perhaps the two of you wouldn't be so estranged now. I'm not sure if you know this but a big part of the reason your mom treated you like so was that she wanted you to be more like her and to live more of her life. That's the reason she was always emphasizing things like outside beauty, getting married, having kids, and such. But you're more like me or the part of me that was inside before I married your mom. You have an adventurous, courageous spirit and you don't want to live the usual life and I'll tell you something. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that."

I looked up at Dad and asked, "Do you regret marrying Mom?"

Dad looked up at the sky and replied, "Yes and no. A little because of how she treated you, how she was too controlling when it came to you. But mostly no because if I hadn't married her, you wouldn't be here and be the wonderful daughter that you are."

I smiled at Dad, feeling cheered up by his words. He then continued,

"I know that it was because of her that you put up the walls around you. Of course, you don't do so around me or around your friends, especially Natalie. But you tend to do so when it comes to men. That's why I think you haven't had a successful relationship and why you hold such a high ideal to the impossible soul mate. But then you found a man who does hold up to your high ideals and now you don't know what to do. You think you do but you don't."

As Dad paused, I looked at him in confusion, wondering what he meant by his last sentence. He then said,

"Do you follow fate and not interfere with the supposed natural course of events or do you take control of your destiny and find a way to be happy, even if it's not through the way you expected? It's a difficult question to answer, isn't it?"

I nodded my head, clearly agreeing with him. He then continued,

"I'm not going to tell you what to do, Callie. I'm here to support you and be here," he pointed to where my heart was, "for you, no matter what path you choose to take. But I'll tell you something that you need to know. You deserve to be happy and finding love is a way to be happy. Even if you haven't openly admitted it to yourself yet, I can see that you are in love with this guy and he should know. You care about him, which is why you're willing to let him go. But think about it. Would the two of you truly be happy going your separate ways, now that events have unfolded the way they have? Even if it meant that I would never see you again, if you were to find happiness with him, that would be more than enough to make me happy because your happiness means so much to me, my beautiful Callie."

Dad had finally finished and I took a few minutes to think about everything he said. It made a lot of sense and Dad was always wise when it came to advice for me. Although I wasn't entirely sure yet of what to do, I knew that Dad was right about something. I needed to tell Yusei how I felt about him. He should know about my feelings for him, whether they be love or something else. Smiling softly at Dad, I hugged him and said,

"Thank you, Dad. You're the best."

After we had hugged and let go of each other, Dad looked over my right shoulder and pointing, he asked,

"Is that him?"

I turned around and saw Yusei standing nearby. I gasped quietly, surprised to see him and that he had found me.

 **Chapter 23**

After I turned around and saw Yusei standing there a short distance away, I was in shock for a few moments. Clearly, I hadn't expected him to find me and wondered how he found me. Quickly recovering from my surprise, I turned around and upon seeing my dad, I noticed this slight smile on his face. He quietly said,

"I take it that it is him. I'd like to talk to him for a few minutes and don't worry-I won't embarrass you or anything."

Dad chuckled quietly and unable to speak, I nodded, letting him know that it was ok for him to talk to Yusei. Besides, I found myself unable to speak one word at the moment. Dad then got up and walked over to Yusei. I watched as they walked a little distance away from me. I wanted to know what Dad wanted to tell Yusei but as they moved off, I surmised that their conversation was meant to be private.

I looked back down at my lap and was grateful that I didn't have to speak to Yusei right away, for I wasn't exactly sure what to say to him. At least I had a few minutes to figure out what to tell him. While waiting, I felt my phone vibrate and looking at it, I received a text message from Natalie. It said,

 _Heads up. Yusei's going to find you and I gave him a hint as to where you might be._

After reading the message, I put my phone away, sighed, and thought to myself,

 _It's a little late now, isn't it?_

Then I turned my attention back to Dad and Yusei and it appeared that Dad had finished talking to him. I looked at Yusei and his cheeks were red, which made me curious as to what Dad told him exactly. Dad approached me and after giving me a warm hug, he said,

"I have to go now, Callie, but remember this. I'll always be here for you."

He gave me a kiss on the forehead and then walked out of the park, leaving Yusei and me alone, as there was no one else around.

After Dad left, Yusei approached me and looking into my eyes, he quietly asked, "May I sit beside you?"

I nodded although I still had trouble getting my voice to return. After Yusei had taken a seat next to me, there was silence for a few minutes. Neither of us knew what to say or who should speak first. The silence felt awkward so finally, I found the strength to regain the use of my vocal chords and asked,

"How did you find me?"

I glanced at Yusei and saw his shoulders relax slightly. I guessed that he was a little nervous about seeing me again after our last encounter. He replied,

"After you left, I returned to your house and Natalie and Jack were there. Natalie gave me a clue as to where you might be, that is, after Jack punched me."

At the mention of Jack punching Yusei, I was very surprised and turning my full gaze on Yusei's face, I could see the evidence of a punch on his right cheek. Feeling more anger than nerves, I replied,

"Why did he do that? I should so get him for that. Wait till I get back home and he'll so get it."

Yusei chuckled slightly and replied, "That's not necessary. I deserved it." I opened my mouth, about to reply, when Yusei shook his head and continued,

"Please let me finish."

I nodded and stayed silent, allowing Yusei to continue. He then said,

"Natalie and Jack know what happened between us earlier, which is why I got that punch. Jack said something like how I was being an idiot and Natalie told me a little about you, the parts about you that you hardly let anyone else know. She was giving me a little insight about your character and it helped a lot."

He took a deep breath, looked down, and was silent for a minute. Then he looked up into my eyes and gazed at me in such a way that I couldn't look away. He then said,

"Callie, I'm sorry for the way I behaved before. I had no right to hurt you like that after all you've done for me. No matter my feelings, you didn't deserve such cruelty."

At that point, I shook my head and said, "Yusei, you weren't cruel to me. I was hurt but I didn't expect to be hurt so much. I thought I had better prepared myself for your reaction but I guess I didn't. I deserved your anger. I kept certain information from you, even if I thought at the time that it was for the best."

Yusei shook his head and kindly replied, "No, you were right in the way you acted. You considered the situation and my feelings and acted how you thought best. It's just that we can't always predict how people will react to every situation, right?"

I nodded, agreeing with Yusei on that point. After all, it is impossible to predict the outcome of every possible situation.

Yusei then continued, "Especially after talking to Natalie and Jack, I knew I had to come find you. It wasn't only to give you an apology."

I looked at Yusei curiously, wondering where he was going with this explanation. He then said,

"Even before your dad talked to me, I knew what I wanted to say to you although I am nervous about how to say this. I wanted to tell you before but we were interrupted and then things happened."

I noticed that Yusei was suddenly getting nervous again and although I had an idea of what Yusei might tell me, I didn't move away or interrupt. Instead, I reached out to touch Yusei's hands and gave him a comforting smile, letting him know that I would be ok with whatever he wanted to tell me. He relaxed and then said,

"I love you, Callie. I don't know when my feelings for you developed but I know that I have real care and love for you. I've never felt this way about anyone ever. When I'm with you, I'm with my equal, someone who can support me but isn't afraid to challenge me at the same time. I know that there isn't another woman like you in any world. I love you and I want you with me always. I'll never be this happy again unless I know you're by my side."

Yusei finished and he let out a breath. It sounded like he was letting out all the nervousness he had felt on his confession. I felt my cheeks get hot even though I had somewhat expected that Yusei would make a love confession to me. I didn't reply immediately, unsure of exactly what to say. Yusei then looked at me and seeing as how I didn't say anything, he said,

"There's something I want to do first before I miss the chance."

Confused, I wondered what Yusei was going to do but before I had time to ponder, Yusei leaned in and gave me a soft kiss on the lips. It felt different from the last time we had kissed. This kiss felt tender and sweet and I felt myself melting under the moment. The walls around me began to crumble and I felt myself giving in to these feelings of love and care. I relaxed and returned the kiss just as tenderly, wishing to convey that I felt the same about Yusei.

Once the kiss was over, Yusei gazed into my eyes and looking a little sheepish, he said, "I'm sorry for being a little forward but I wanted to kiss you like that. I wanted you to know that I do love you and I'll never doubt you again."

I smiled shyly and after a minute of silence, I finally said,

"I guess it's time now for me to speak." I looked down at my lap, took a deep breath, and looking back into Yusei's eyes, I said,

"Yusei, I never thought I would find a man like you. I hoped for so long to find someone who is as warm, brave, and caring as you. I searched for a long time in this world and had given up, thinking that such a man didn't exist. But then you came into my life and no matter what the crazy circumstances were, I decided to live in the moment and allow myself to enjoy each moment of our time together. It hasn't been easy for us-there have been some crazy things and what not. But I wouldn't trade those moments for anything. And although I've tried to deny this to myself because I didn't want to complicate things, I can't do that anymore. I love you, Yusei Fudo, as I have truly fallen for you. I can't imagine myself being with anyone else. You're my soul mate and there's nothing I would love more than to spend the rest of my life with you. But…"

Yusei looked confused, probably wondering why I would include a "but" in my confession. After a brief pause, I continued,

"I think you know why we can't be together. We belong in different worlds and you should return to your world and follow the path that's set for you. I can't interfere with that, as much as I want to be with you. But I know you'll be happy and eventually move on with someone else and as long as you're happy, that's enough to make me happy. I've loved every moment we've spent together and although it'll hurt to be apart, I know it's for the best in the end."

I hung my head down, feeling saddened by the latter part of my confession. It hurt to say such words but I knew they had to be said, that I had to do what was right and not be selfish and give in to my feelings. I felt a hand on my chin and my chin was tilted upward so that I looked right into Yusei's blue eyes. Involuntarily, I blushed and Yusei said,

"I had a feeling you would tell me this. Natalie gave me a warning that you might say this but I'm not going to let you make the choice for us because you think it's for the best. Do you really think I would be happy if you weren't in my life, if I moved on with someone else? I can't do that now and there's no way that I would ever forget you.

Callie, I know I have to return to New Domino but I want you to come with me. I want you by my side and I'll support you as you have supported me. Natalie is going with Jack and she's taking a risk to be with him. I hope that you'll do the same but it's a decision I want you to make, one that you want for yourself."

After Yusei finished speaking, I took a minute to collect my thoughts and feelings. I wanted to follow my heart and agree to follow Yusei back to New Domino but my mind was still interfering, telling me that I had to do the right thing. Unable to resolve the conflict going on inside me, I finally replied,

"I need to think about it. I can't make a decision right now."

I looked in my purse and took out the bracelet that would help Yusei return to New Domino. After briefly looking at it, I handed it to him and said,

"The crimson dragon gave me this. It'll help you return. There's one other and I gave it to Natalie and I assume she gave it to Jack."

Yusei took the bracelet from me and he replied, "Thanks, Callie. Jack and Natalie are returning to New Domino tomorrow morning and I'll go with them. I hope you'll go with me. I love you so much and it would be hard to live the rest of my life without you. But as I said, I want you to make this decision for yourself, do what's best for you."

He gave me one more kiss and getting up, he said, "I'll wait for you as long as I can. I hope you'll believe in us and take the chance to be with me." He then walked out of the park and then I was left alone to ponder over my thoughts and feelings.

 **Chapter 24**

Once I was alone, the internal struggle to follow my mind or my heart started. I didn't know what to do. I wish that I didn't have to make the decision at all but the situation was presented to me and I knew that I needed to decide. There wasn't much time and I couldn't delay it.

What do I do? Do I follow my mind or my heart? My mind told me to continue doing the right thing, to let go of Yusei and allow him to return to New Domino even though it meant that I would never see him again. Then he would be able to follow his path, be the hero, and have Akiza who adores him. Even if Yusei still has feelings for me once he returns, being with Akiza would surely make him forget about me in time.

On the other hand, everyone else has told me to follow my heart and even I had to admit that I wanted to follow my heart. Although I rarely did so, I would follow my heart's desires if I felt that they were stronger than the reasons my mind made. I closed my eyes, remembering all the times that I've spent with Yusei since he and Jack first arrived. Memories flashed in my head from the time that I took care of him when he was unconscious to helping him repair his duel runner to attending the party with him and dancing in his arms. They were wonderful memories that brought a smile to my face and a blush to my cheeks. Then I remembered the scarier memories but yet they didn't make me sad or doubt myself because Yusei was there to support me. He was like my support and I realized for the first time that I needed such a support even though I denied it before.

Then I remembered the words that those dearest to me said when it came to following my heart. Natalie told me that Yusei needed a woman who was his equal and that I was his match. Next came Dad's words, which still rang clearly in my ears as if he had spoken them to me just now:

"You deserve to be happy and finding love is a way to be happy."

And then I remembered Yusei's words to me:

"When I'm with you, I'm with my equal, someone who can support me but isn't afraid to challenge me at the same time. I know that there isn't another woman like you in any world. I love you and I want you with me always. I'll never be this happy again unless I know you're by my side."

The answer was right there, wasn't it? Despite trying to find reasons to follow my mind and do the right thing, it did appear more appealing to follow my heart. But was it selfish to follow my heart, to follow my own desires, to achieve happiness regardless of others' well wishes? Then, there was a small thought that annoyed me in the back of my mind. If I did decide to be with Yusei, was it because it was what I wished or was it to fulfill my mom's wishes? I remember way back when she wanted me to get married, settled down, and have kids. That is what would most likely happen if I chose to be with Yusei. There was a stubborn side of me that wanted to defy her wants because they oppressed me and to do that, I would have to give up being with Yusei.

However, I quickly shook my head and told myself that no matter what decision I'd make, it was what I wanted for myself. That was most important, right? This was one of those rare moments that I needed to make a decision for me, do what's best for me, because I am the one who can decide my happiness. I knew what would make me happy.

I stood up with a new resolution in my heart. I knew what I had to do and looking up at the sky and then at the time, I suddenly realized that it was almost morning. I couldn't believe that I had stayed in the park all night and hadn't once fallen asleep or been approached. There wasn't much time before Yusei, Natalie, and Jack would leave and I knew there was no way I would get there in time on foot. As quickly as I could, I ran until I approached the street and fortunately, I found a nearby taxi. I hailed for it and then ordered the driver to head towards my house, hoping that I would get there in time.

Meanwhile, I took out my phone and called Dad because I needed to hear his voice one last time despite the early hours. So I dialed his cell phone number and although it took a minute, he finally picked it up and in a sleepy voice, he said,

"Hi, Callie. Isn't it a little early to be calling?"

I replied, "It is and I'm sorry about that, Dad. I don't have much time and I needed to hear your voice." I paused for a few moments and then continued,

"I thought about what you said and I looked into my heart. I know what I want to do but, Dad, there's a good chance that I'll never see you again. You see, I love him. I love Yusei and I'm going to do everything in my power to be with him and to be happy but we're going to a place where I can't contact you. I wish I could explain but it would be too difficult and I don't have much time. He's waiting for me but he's going to leave soon. I'm hurrying as I speak to get to him and I hope I'll be there in time and assuming that I'll get to him, I wanted to tell you that I love you and that I thank you for being my dad, for always being there for me. I couldn't have asked for anyone better in my life. I'll never forget you."

I felt myself get teary-eyed as I spoke those latter words and couldn't continue. After a minute of silence, Dad replied,

"I love you, Callie. I always have and I always will. And I know that you'll be with a man who can love you and look after you always so I don't worry about you being alone. Just promise me that you'll be happy, ok?"

I replied, "I promise, Dad. I promise that I'll be happy."

Dad replied, "Now you hurry and be with him. Don't worry about the details. I'll take care of your house and other matters, ok? The most important thing right now is that you get to him in time."

I replied, "Thanks, Dad. I love you always. Goodbye."

I hung up the phone and then looked out the window to see where we were. The sun was rising to greet the new morning and I could see the street where my house was. I asked the driver to stop a couple of blocks from my house and after paying him, I ran up to the front yard of the house, hoping to see signs of Natalie, Jack, or Yusei.

However, when I arrived, all was quiet. It seemed as though it were too quiet. Dread came upon me and I sank to me knees, realizing what must have happened. They must have left without me. I was too late. Although I did my best to hurry and to find Yusei and to express all that I wanted him to know, my efforts were in vain. I felt fresh tears come to my eyes and I sobbed, losing all hope of happiness and being alone again.

Suddenly, I heard a noise and the garage door opened. Looking in the direction of the garage, I was surprised to see Yusei and his duel runner since I thought that he had left as well. Yusei looked at me and ran to me, surprise at seeing me and my tears, I suppose. He gathered me in his arms and softly said,

"I believed you would come. I waited for you, even after Jack and Natalie left."

I looked up happily into Yusei's eyes and replied, "I thought you all left. I thought I was too late."

Yusei replied, "Jack and Natalie did wait but when the sun started to rise, they thought you wouldn't come. Well, Jack thought you wouldn't. I decided to wait a little longer, though, knowing how I know you."

I looked at Yusei and curiously replied, "What do you mean by that?"

Yusei replied, "I know you're a person who needs to think things through, even when it comes to matters of the heart. I knew you wouldn't make a decision quickly but in the end, I believed you would come because you want to be happy and being together like this makes us both happy. Or am I wrong?"

I shook my head and replied, "You're exactly right about me. I want to be happy and being with you has made me happy. I've never been as happy as when I've been with you and I remembered all the times we've spent together, the good and bad ones. I cherish them all and I hope that we'll have many more to come."

Yusei smiled and replied, "I guarantee that. Now we should get going so you can pack a few things and then we can go."

I nodded and quickly, I ran inside the house, grabbed a small backpack, put a couple of changes of clothes, a few necessities, and other items. Then I quickly sent a text message to Mac, letting him know that I had finally finished the new book I wrote and that it was saved on my computer at the house. I let him know that Dad would give him access since I wouldn't be there to personally give him the new manuscript.

After all the preparations were done, I went out the front door and then took one last look at the house. I would miss it, as there were plenty of fond memories made there. Then I looked to Yusei and knew that there would be even more wonderful memories yet to be made. There was the bright future to look forward to and although it would be uncertain now with the choice I made, I was ready to face it head on with the man who was formerly my dream guy and now was my equal.

Happily, I approached Yusei and said, "I'm all ready to go but first, there's something I want to do."

Before Yusei could reply, I quickly leaned in and kissed him softly on the lips, allowing the action to speak for itself. I expressed all the love and hope in my heart and that I would now and forever be happy with the path I've chosen, to be with the man whom I can say I love with all of my heart.

Once the kiss was over, I said a little slyly, "And there will be plenty more where that came from."

Yusei chuckled lightly and handing me a spare helmet, he said, "I'm looking forward to them."

After putting on the helmet, I got on the duel runner behind Yusei and wrapped my arms around his waist. Yusei had on the bracelet and once he started up his duel runner, we headed down the street and there was a beautiful bright light ahead of us, the other side of which waited the unknown but hopeful future.

 **Epilogue**

Some time had passed and a lot of events had happened after Yusei and I arrived in New Domino City. Of course, Natalie and Jack were there to greet us and Natalie especially was happy to see me. Jack even gave a slight hint of a smile and I smiled slightly back at him. It was one of the few times that we ever seemed to get along.

Although neither Natalie nor I ever figured out exactly how the dark signers had entered our world in the first place, it turned out that it didn't matter. Yusei and Jack were able to defeat them and life moved on afterwards.

Natalie and I decided to find a small apartment in New Domino to settle down and start our new lives. Although Yusei and even Jack offered to let us stay at their place, I felt that it would have been crowded. So instead, we found a nice apartment and got jobs. Natalie was able to resume her occupation as a nurse, working at the hospital. As for me, I ended up working in a small bookstore. Although I knew that most of the people didn't read from books but rather from small digital portable devices, I preferred to read from a book, to feel it in my hands. I suppose that feeling came from being a writer. Thus, I decided to work in a bookstore although I did continue to write when I had the chance. However, since I couldn't bring money from my world to New Domino, I had to start all over to earn a living.

Although Natalie and I knew how events would most likely proceed now that we were in the world of _YuGiOh 5D's_ , we agreed that it was best not to reveal them to Yusei or Jack and they agreed as well. None of us wanted to inadvertently affect the course of events more than they already had been.

Of course, after we all got back, we had to think of a good cover story since telling the complete truth was out of the question. Although it wasn't easy, Natalie and I were able to come up with a plausible background to tell others and Yusei and Jack helped us with that. Yusei later told me that the only person who knew what really happened was Crow and that was only because he, Jack, and Crow had been best friends since they were kids and I could certainly understand his reasoning.

Once Natalie and I had been able to establish ourselves in New Domino, we lived our lives to the fullest. Natalie and Jack continued to see one another, much to the chagrin of other ladies. I knew that Jack was very popular with a lot of young women but Natalie was able to fend them off and I'd give them looks whenever I could. After all, I wanted Natalie to be happy and I could see that she was happiest when she was with Jack. So I wanted to do everything in my power to make sure that she'd be as happy as possible.

As for me, I continued to be with Yusei, keeping the promise to my dad to be as happy as possible. Although I didn't have as much competition with other women, I had to compete with events and disasters that were beyond my control. Any other girlfriend would have complained or left over such matters but as I knew how important Yusei was, I stayed by his side, supporting him and loving him throughout it all. I had to admit, though, that there were the occasions when my thoughts would stray to my dad or to my other friends and acquaintances I had left behind and it would sadden me a little that I couldn't visit them or even contact them. Yusei seemed to sense this and he would be by my side during those times, holding my hands or giving me a hug, which was enough to reassure me that I had made the right decision, to follow my heart and to be with him.

Natalie and I had a chance to meet the others. I found that I got along with Crow quite well, as we bonded over feeling annoyed with Jack at times. Being with Crow felt like having a brother and it was nice, as I never had a brother before. I got along with Leo and Luna as well and we hung out when we could. It was fun seeing the two of them together, Leo getting excited over duel monsters while Luna would get exasperated over Leo's enthusiasm.

As for Akiza, I was pleasantly surprised that I got along with her well. She was friendly to me although she seemed reserved at times. Although Yusei and I didn't make it a point to openly say that we were in a romantic relationship, I could see at times in Akiza's eyes that she had figured it out. I couldn't make out her feelings on the matter, though. They seemed to conflict at times. There were times that she seemed all right with it but then other times that her expression darkened. However, when I observed Natalie and Akiza together, I could tell that those two didn't get along. Natalie was convinced that Akiza would take Yusei away from me and so she'd be hostile around her.

Thus, life took its course and all of us weathered through its ups and downs. After the events involving Z-One were over, things seemed to settle down. Jack even found courage to propose to Natalie and of course, Natalie accepted. The two of them had a huge wedding and I was Natalie's maid of honor while Yusei was Jack's best man. It was a good thing that I was there since I could see by some of the wedding guests' faces that they were not happy about Jack and Natalie getting married. Especially, I could see by the looks on Mina's, Carly's, and Stephanie's faces-Mina, Carly, and Stephanie were sort of Jack's fans girls-that they weren't too happy at all about the union. However, one look from me and it was enough to stop them from openly protesting the marriage.

Then there was the final duel between Yusei and Jack and although Natalie and I knew how the outcome would be most likely, we each cheered for our respective guy. As we watched the duel, Natalie leaned in and whispered,

"I hope that Yusei proposes to you soon. I so want to be there at your wedding."

I blushed and looked down, not knowing what to say. Natalie continued, "It'll happen soon. I'm sure of it."

I looked off to the side and noticed Akiza giving us weird looks but I shrugged them off, not knowing what to make of them.

After the duel was over and we all ran to congratulate Yusei and Jack, Akiza wished to have a private word with me. Nodding, I followed her until we were safely out of earshot of the others. She then looked at me and said,

"I know that you and Yusei are together. I've known for a long time now ever since I saw you two together. I didn't say anything before because I didn't want to think about it too much. But now that we're about to go our separate ways, there's something I want to ask you and I want you to be honest with me."

I nodded but didn't say anything. I waited for Akiza to continue and after a minute of silence, she asked,

"If Yusei found someone else he loved more, would you fight for him or let him go?"

The question took me by surprise and for a couple of minutes, I couldn't think of anything to say. The question should have crossed my mind at some point, especially since I knew that Akiza liked Yusei and now my presence had changed the dynamics of that relationship. I knew that I should say something so, finally, I looked into Akiza's eyes and replied,

"I hadn't thought about it, to tell you the truth. All I want is for Yusei to be happy, whether that's with me or someone else. I guess if it turned out that he found someone else he loved more than me and he really wanted to be with that person, I would do what's right and-and let him go. Because I love him so much, I want him to be happy and seeing and knowing that he's happy would be enough for me. I don't know if that makes any sense but that's how I feel."

Akiza nodded and replied, "I understand. I'm sorry for asking such a question but I wanted to know your thoughts about it."

I smiled a little and replied, "I can understand. I know that we probably won't see each other again for some time but I wish you nothing but the best and I know you'll make a wonderful doctor."

Akiza gave me a smile in return and replied, "Thank you, Callie. I should get going now. I have to pack and get ready to leave."

I nodded and after Akiza left, Natalie approached me and immediately asked, "What did she want?"

I replied, "Oh, Akiza just wanted to ask me a question and I answered it for her. That's all."

Natalie raised an eyebrow, suspecting that there was more but refrained from saying anything. She then said,

"Jack and I are going to leave soon. He wants to become duel king again and beat Yusei someday."

I laughed quietly and replied, "Some things never change."

Natalie giggled and replied, "That's true. Well, I wanted to say goodbye although I'll definitely keep in touch. Just because I'm married now doesn't mean that we'll drift apart."

I replied, "We better not or else I'll go after you."

Natalie replied, "In that case, I'll contact you often. And remember, after you accept Yusei's marriage proposal, contact me right away. Jack and I will come back for your wedding."

I blushed and replied, "You need to stop that, Natalie. I doubt that Yusei's going to propose anytime soon and we have plenty of time before our relationship goes to that level."

Natalie replied, "Oh, all right but still. You better let me know when you get engaged. See ya." She then ran back to Jack and after getting behind him on his duel runner, the two of them left.

Before I knew it, Yusei and I were the only ones left. Yusei approached me and giving me a smile, he said,

"Do you want to hang out tonight at my place? It might be a little lonely now that Natalie's moved out."

I nodded and returning the smile, I replied, "Yeah, sure, and I don't have any plans tonight so I'll come over."

Yusei replied, "I'll see you later then." He then left on his duel runner and I walked back to the apartment I had shared with Natalie, taking my time.

After a few hours had passed, it was evening and I had finished getting ready to meet Yusei. As it was going to be an ordinary night-or so I thought at the time-I wore a simple white blouse and light blue jeans and had put my hair in a ponytail. After grabbing my jacket and purse, I left my apartment and walked over to Yusei's place.

Once I arrived, I was about to walk through the garage door when I noticed Yusei and Akiza talking to one another in the dark. Quickly, I hid myself before either of them noticed my presence. I had a feeling that I knew what they were talking about and I didn't want to interrupt. Also, I had to admit to myself that I wanted to know for sure whether Yusei would choose to be with me. So I eavesdropped and thus heard and saw the following:

Akiza said, "Yusei, I wanted to thank you for everything you've done for me. I don't know what I would have done without you."

Yusei and Akiza continued to talk for a little while although there were parts of their conversation that I couldn't quite make out. Then I heard Akiza take a deep breath and say,

"Yusei, there's something I want to tell you, something I wish to confess to you before I leave. I wouldn't feel right not telling you since you can choose now. I like you a lot and I know you're with someone else but I'm here and I want you to know that if you can wait for me, I'll return one day to be with you."

I gasped but quickly covered my mouth. Akiza's confession took me by surprise since part of me hadn't expected that she would be open with Yusei like that. However, the other part of me wasn't surprised since Natalie's and my presence had clearly changed events in this world. Thankfully, neither Yusei nor Akiza heard me and then I heard Yusei reply,

"Akiza, I don't know what to say-."

Then suddenly, there was silence and I peeked to see what had happened. To my shock, I saw that Akiza and Yusei were kissing and it didn't look like Yusei was going to pull away. I didn't dare stick around any longer so I turned around and quickly ran away from the scene, wishing to be as far away as possible. I ran until my feet hurt but it didn't feel like I was far enough away. I stopped for a few minutes and without realizing that I had done so, there were tears trickling from my eyes. However, I didn't bother to wipe them away. All I could think of was to get as far away as possible.

I looked around and after a couple more minutes, I found a taxi and hailing the driver, I entered and asked the driver to take me to the beach. The beach was the first place that came to mind that I thought would calm me down after the scene I had witnessed. As the driver drove off, I thought I saw Crow in the rearview mirror and it looked like he had noticed me but I didn't ask the driver to stop. I didn't want to talk to anyone. All I knew was that I needed to calm down and be alone. Then I could organize my thoughts and feelings and deal with everything that had happened afterwards.

After about half an hour had passed, I finally arrived at the beach and after paying the driver, I left the taxi and the driver drove off, heading back to the city. Once I was there, I took off my shoes and slowly walked on the sand, allowing myself to finally calm down and have some peace and quiet. I walked along, not knowing or caring where I was headed. It felt good to be alone and to think over what I had seen, what I had heard. I wasn't sure what to make of it but now it made sense why Akiza had asked me that question earlier. I should have picked up on the hint then but even if I had, would I have stopped her? Probably not, I told myself. I knew that if Yusei hadn't entered my life and I had helped and gotten to know him the way I had, things would have turned out different for the two of them. They might have had a future together although even that was uncertain. However, now I didn't know what to think, let alone what to do. But I did know one thing. No matter what would happen, I wanted Yusei to be happy and I still loved him despite everything.

I finally stopped walking and my knees sank into the sand. Thinking that no one else was there at this time of night, I said to myself,

"I'll love you for all time and please be happy. That'll be enough for me."

Suddenly, I heard a cough and quickly, I turned around. There was Yusei standing before me but I couldn't tell how he was feeling by his facial expression. Not knowing what to say, I averted my gaze and looked down at the sand, silence separating the two of us for a minute. Yusei finally spoke up and said,

"You tend to run away when something's bothering you. It's a bad habit, you know."

I bit my lower lip and although I was tempted to ask him how he found me, I felt a little tired to say anything at that moment. So Yusei continued,

"Crow saw you leave and he found me a minute later and told me what he saw. He noticed that you were crying. I think I know what it's about."

Finally, I stood up, looked into Yusei's eyes and put a hand up to signal him to stop talking. I then took a deep breath and said,

"You don't have to explain anything to me. I get it. I-I just want you to be happy, ok? If you're happy, then I'll be happy for you so I should go now-."

I found myself suddenly wrapped up in Yusei's arms to prevent me from leaving and then he said,

"Don't go. You need to know what happened after you left because you need to understand everything."

I sighed and wearily replied, "Really, Yusei, it's ok. I shouldn't have eavesdropped in the first place but curiosity got the better of me and I left. I don't need the details, please, plus I'm really tired."

Yusei gave me a firm gaze and replied, "Not until you listen to what I have to say and then you can leave if you want. I won't ever bother you again if that's what you want."

I nodded and replied, "Fine. Then tell me what you have to say."

Yusei looked straight into my eyes and gently replied, "Yes, Akiza did confess to me tonight and she did kiss me. I was surprised and didn't know how to react but here's what happened after. I pulled away from her and told her that I didn't feel the same way about her, that maybe things might have been different if I hadn't met you, my soul mate."

I was surprised that Yusei called me his "soul mate" but I didn't interrupt, letting him continue.

Yusei then continued, "Then I told her that I want to see her smile always, to be happy and to have hope. I know that one day, she'll find someone who will love her for herself and she'll be able to return those feelings, too, but I'm not that person. Then I told her how you and I were for each other and there were some other words, too. Akiza understood although she was upset. But she's a strong woman and I believe she will find love someday with someone else."

I blushed after Yusei told me what had happened after I left and feeling embarrassed, I replied,

"I'm sorry, Yusei. I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions like that without hearing you out. But I don't understand."

Yusei looked confused but without giving him a chance to reply, I continued, "I mean, why did you refuse her? Even if I wasn't personally involved, she's quite extraordinary. She's beautiful, a great duelist and well, I'm…just me. Just plain, ordinary me."

I averted my gaze and then felt a hand touch my chin. I was forced to look into Yusei's eyes and I could see such love and warmth in them. Ever so gently, he replied,

"That's not how I see you. You're special, very special. Ever since I met you and you helped me, I could see into your heart and your soul and you're very beautiful. You are my equal in life and I want to spend all of my life with you. No one else even comes close."

I could feel my cheeks get red and my eyes got misty upon hearing Yusei's words. They touched my heart and there was no way I could ever feel any doubt that he loved me. He then said,

"Since we're here, there's something I've been meaning to ask you. I wanted to ask you this for a long time but I wanted to wait until things settled down so…"

He released me from his arms and got on one knee. I opened my eyes wide, guessing what was about to happen. Was Natalie right when she said that Yusei would propose to me? I thought that she was simply teasing me like usual but it looked like that wasn't the case this time. I continued to look at Yusei as he put his right hand in his pocket and took out a small dark blue velvet box and opened it. Inside, there was a beautiful yet simple diamond ring and I stared at it in wonder and disbelief. Yusei then held my left hand gently and gazing lovingly into my eyes, he softly said,

"Callie, we have been through so much together, supported each other through everything, here and back in your world. I can't imagine how I would have gone through all those years without you by my side and I can't imagine living the rest of my life without you. So will you do me the honor of marrying me and making me the happiest man ever?"

Yusei stopped talking and looked at me, waiting for a response. I didn't know what to say. Of course, I wanted to marry him but was this real or was this just a dream? I must have been quiet for a while because Yusei finally said,

"Please, I need an answer. Even if you say no, I'll still be with you as you have been with me through everything."

Finding my voice, I nodded happily and replied, "Of course I'll marry you. There's nothing that would make me happier than being with you for all time but will you be happy with me?"

Yusei nodded happily and replied, "There's no one who can make me happier than you, my beautiful Callie." He then gently placed the engagement ring on my ring finger and then we shared a sweet kiss to celebrate our love and the start of a new chapter in our lives. As we kissed, I felt that I finally found my happily ever after and I had eternal happiness at last with the man of my ideal who became my reality. After the kiss was over, I gazed lovingly into Yusei's eyes and said,

"Thank you for being you and for giving me the happiness that I always longed for."

I gently reached up to touch Yusei's right cheek and as I gazed into his eyes, I could see that our future would be a happy one and although we would certainly have our share of troubles, we would have each other to hold on to and to lean for support and that was what love was. I finally found love at last and nothing could make me happier than this feeling.


End file.
